Objective:

This study assessed the quality of educational content for lateral spine fusion procedures on YouTube™.

Methods:

YouTube™ was searched using the following keywords and phrases: “Lateral lumbar interbody fusion,” “lateral lumbar spine surgery,” “Oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF),” “Extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF),” and “Lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF).” An expert panel of three senior-level spine surgeons [rater one to three (R1-R3)] rated videos on 13 qualitative evaluation parameters via a modified Delphi approach.

Results:

Thirty-eight videos were included for evaluation. Interrater reliability analysis indicated a moderate agreement between R1 and R2 (κ=0.50; standard error, SE = 0.05), R1 and R3 (κ = 0.60, SE = 0.04), and a substantial agreement between R2 and R3 (κ = 0.65, SE = 0.04). Unanimously positive assessments of the quality of the intraoperative presentation varied between 42% and 63% of the rated videos. However, perioperative quality features were unanimously rated positively less than 21% of the videos.

Conclusion:

With regard to the surgical approach and execution of lateral lumbar fusions, YouTube™ videos can be seen as a valuable addition to academic education. The main problem, however, is the lack of control mechanisms that check the quality of the content offered before it is consumed by patients, students, and doctors in training.