The new trend of pre-pectoral breast reconstruction. An objective evaluation of the quality of online information for patients undergoing breast reconstruction
The Web has increasingly become the major
source of information about health care, and patients who
need to undergo breast reconstruction often use the internet
to acquire an initial knowledge on the subject. We would
like to present our study that investigates the quality of
published information on pre-pectoral breast reconstruction. We searched the term ‘‘Pre-pectoral breast reconstruction’’ on Google and Yahoo. Forty-two web sites
were selected and underwent qualitative and quantitative
assessment using the expanded EQIP tool. The analysis of
document contents showed a critical lack of information
about qualitative risks and side-effects descriptions, treatment of potential complications, alert signs for the patient
and precautions that the patient may take. Health professionals should inform patients about the potential difficulties of identifying reliable informational web sites about
pre-pectoral breast reconstruction. The quality of available
information should be improved, especially the important
topics included in the content data section of the modified
EQIP tool