Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21231-2410, USA.
J Oncol Pract. 2013 Jan;9(1):57-62. doi: 10.1200/JOP.2012.000693.
Direct-to-consumer advertising by industry has been criticized for encouraging overuse of unproven therapies, but advertising by health care providers has not been as carefully scrutinized. Stereotactic radiation therapy is an emerging technology that has sparked controversy regarding the marketing campaigns of some manufacturers. Given that this technology is also being heavily advertised on the Web sites of health care providers, the accuracy of providers' marketing claims should be rigorously evaluated.
We reviewed the Web sites of all U.S. hospitals and private practices that provide stereotactic radiation using two leading brands of stereotactic radiosurgery technology. Centers were identified by using data from the manufacturers. Centers without Web sites were excluded. The final study population consisted of 212 centers with online advertisements for stereotactic radiation. Web sites were evaluated for advertisements that were inconsistent with advertising guidelines provided by the American Medical Association.
Most centers (76%) had individual pages dedicated to the marketing of their brand of stereotactic technology that frequently contained manufacturer-authored images (50%) or text (55%). Advertising for the treatment of tumors that have not been endorsed by professional societies was present on 66% of Web sites. Centers commonly claimed improved survival (22%), disease control (20%), quality of life (17%), and toxicity (43%) with stereotactic radiation. Although 40% of Web sites championed the center's regional expertise in delivering stereotactic treatments, only 15% of Web sites provided data to support their claims.
Provider advertisements for stereotactic radiation were prominent and aggressive. Further investigation of provider advertising, its effects on quality of care, and potential oversight mechanisms is needed.
行业的直接面向消费者的广告因鼓励过度使用未经证实的疗法而受到批评，但医疗保健提供者的广告却没有受到如此仔细的审查。立体定向放射治疗是一种新兴技术，其营销活动引发了一些制造商的争议。鉴于该技术也在医疗保健提供者的网站上大量宣传，因此应严格评估提供者营销声明的准确性。
我们审查了使用两种领先的立体定向放射外科技术提供立体定向放射治疗的所有美国医院和私人诊所的网站。通过制造商提供的数据确定了中心。没有网站的中心被排除在外。最终的研究人群包括 212 个具有立体定向放射在线广告的中心。评估了网站的广告，这些广告与美国医学协会提供的广告准则不一致。
大多数中心（76％）都有专门用于宣传其品牌的立体定向技术的单独页面，这些页面经常包含制造商撰写的图像（50％）或文本（55％）。在 66％的网站上宣传了未经专业协会认可的肿瘤治疗广告。中心经常声称立体定向放射治疗可提高生存率（22％）、控制疾病（20％）、提高生活质量（17％）和降低毒性（43％）。尽管 40％的网站支持中心在提供立体定向治疗方面的区域专业知识，但只有 15％的网站提供数据来支持其主张。
立体定向放射治疗的提供者广告突出且激进。需要进一步调查提供者的广告、其对护理质量的影响以及潜在的监督机制。
