Prostate cancer on the internet: impact on patients and how technology helps physicians and researchers

The Internet is a repository of information unparalleled in history. The abundance of published material about prostate cancer has never been greater. Couple this with burgeoning pharmaceutical public-relations budgets and the result is a bewildering maze of hundreds of thousands of prostate cancer-oriented Internet pages. Our purposes are to help practitioners understand the profound handicap that patients are faced with when they attempt to search the Internet for information about their newly diagnosed disease and to succinctly evaluate the presence or absence of key aspects of prostate cancer on some of the most easily accessible sites. Part two of this paper will then discuss 4 of the most valuable Web sites for the prostate cancer specialist. Surfing the World Wide Web can be frustrating and time-consuming, but it can also be rewarding and informative.