Information about liver transplantation on the World Wide Web

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Hepatology
• Surgical Innovation

Background:

• Orthotopic liver transplant (OLTx) is a vital treatment for end-stage liver disease.
• Accessible and accurate patient information is crucial for OLTx recipients and their support networks.
• Non-transplant clinicians also require reliable OLTx resources.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the quality and nature of online patient information regarding liver transplantation.
• To identify the characteristics of high-quality OLTx web resources.

Main Methods:

• A systematic search of the internet using 'Liver transplant' keywords across four search engines.
• Assessment of the top 50 unique URLs per search engine for origin, language, accessibility, and information extent.
• A weighted Information Score (IS) developed and applied by three independent transplant clinicians to evaluate clinical and educational value.

Main Results:

• Out of 2,255,244 initial results, 58 unique websites were analyzed.
• The overall median weighted IS was 22, indicating generally poor quality.
• Websites from academic institutions and professional organizations scored significantly higher than commercial sites (p = .001).
• European websites had a higher median IS (40) than US websites (23), though not statistically significant (p = 0.07).

Conclusions:

• The current quality of online information about liver transplantation is inadequate.
• There is a critical need for healthcare professionals to improve and curate OLTx web content.
• Clinicians should actively guide patients towards accurate, relevant, and regionally appropriate online resources.