Introduction
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) begins to be seen after the age of 40
years, and its incidence increases with age, reaching 80-90% among the
population aged 70 to 80 years (1). Surgical treatment is applied in
symptomatic BPH cases that do not benefit from medical treatment and/or
develop complications. There are many surgical alternatives to
surgically treat symptomatic BPH [open prostatectomy, Transurethral
resection of the prostate (TUR-P), Transurethral enucleation of the
prostate (TUEP), Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP),
etc.]. Among these surgical procedures, HoLEP has taken its place as a
surgical treatment option of BPH due to its efficacy and safety in large
prostates (2). It has been shown that full enucleation performed after
HoLEP results in reduced possibility of repeat surgery, less bleeding,
and decreased hospital stay due to the shorter duration of catheter use
(3). For these reasons, HoLEP surgery has started to be preferred
frequently, and its popularity is gradually increasing.
With the current advances in technologies and the widespread use of
communication tools, people can now quickly access information on
subjects in which they are interested. Video content providers allows
patients to easily access information on various treatment methods,
which can affect their treatment decisions. YouTube is one of the most
popular video-sharing platforms, having more than 1 billion users that
collectively watch more than 1 billion hours of videos every day (4,5).
It is an ever-developing area where patients receive healthcare
information. Unfortunately, information pollution caused by inaccurate
information spreading through social media tools is a very important
issue. Therefore, it is important to ensure the accuracy, reliability
and understandability of online information obtained by patients
concerning treatment methods. In previous studies, it has already been
emphasized that there is a spread of false and/or biased information
concerning urological conditions on YouTube (6,7). Video-sharing sites
may be suitable for providing information on the surgical treatment of
BPH. In particular, videos with animations and informative visual tools
can be useful, and current technological developments increasing video
quality can help viewers better understand the disease and treatment.
However, it can be difficult for patients to distinguish the accuracy of
the content of existing from the marketing promises of informing party.
To the best of our knowledge, there is no study in the literature
evaluating HoLEP-specific surgical videos on YouTube. Therefore, we
aimed to evaluate the content, reliability and quality of the most
relevant YouTube videos related to HoLEP surgery.