Abstract
Background: Gamma Knife radiosurgery was introduced in the 1960s and is currently used worldwide. The internet has become a foremost source of information used by patients and their families. In this study, we aim to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the Gamma Knife radiosurgery–related YouTube videos. Methods: We searched YouTube and the first 3 pages sorted according to “Relevance-Based Ranking” were included for analysis. Four independent health care workers from different disciplines evaluated the videos using the validated DISCERN tool. Results: Our search resulted in 65,774 videos, and 14 videos met inclusion criteria. Our study found that 50% (7 of 14) of the videos were uploaded by university-affiliated hospitals; 14% of videos scored 3. The search term “Radiosurgery for intraaxial brain lesions” had the highest percentage of moderate videos (DISCERN = 3) (50%). Conclusions: Patients and caregivers turn to online sources to gather information about the disease. However, the available YouTube published videos are published without proper academic monitoring, as in such a free platform, published videos tend to catch a general audience for different purposes, which leads to diminishing quality control. Academic medical institutions should consider a proper monitoring process for videos to improve the accuracy of the published information for the patients.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | e398-e402 |
Journal | World neurosurgery |
Volume | 125 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2019 |
Keywords
- CyberKnife
- Gamma Knife
- Patient education
- Stereotactic radiosurgery
- YouTube
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery
- Clinical Neurology