OncologyYouTube as Source of Prostate Cancer Information
Section snippets
Material and Methods
Using methods used previously,8 3 distinct searches were conducted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) for videos pertaining to PSA testing, radiotherapy, and surgical therapy for prostate cancer:
January 5, 2008—search using the terms prostate-specific antigen; prostate cancer and PSA; and prostate cancer and diagnosis
January 27, 2008—search using the search string: prostate cancer and radiotherapy, and prostate and radiotherapy.
February 9, 2008—search using the following terms: prostatectomy;
Results
We found 228 unique videos. A total of 26 on PSA testing, 28 on radiotherapy, and 123 on surgery videos were excluded, most often for content unrelated to prostate cancer (Table 1). The remaining 14 PSA videos, 5 radiotherapy videos, and 32 surgery videos were analyzed. The information content went to arbitration in 14 surgery, 2 PSA, and 2 radiotherapy videos. Bias was arbitrated in 6 surgery videos and 2 videos each for PSA and radiotherapy.
All but 3 surgery videos were geared toward lay
Comment
We assessed YouTube videos pertaining to the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer for information content and bias. Among the reviewed videos, 73% had fair or poor information content, and just more than two thirds of the videos were biased in favor of PSA testing or treatment of prostate cancer. No videos in our search were biased against PSA testing or the treatment of prostate cancer. Not surprisingly, longer videos tended to have more information; however, information content was
Conclusions
Given the modest information available on YouTube regarding prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment, it is incumbent on urologists to counsel patients regarding other available Internet information sources on prostate cancer. Although some videos, especially those related to prostatectomy, are useful adjuncts, YouTube is not a reliable source of information for individual patients seeking to better understand the screening for, and management of, prostate cancer.
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