Aydin Serdar O, Tasargol Omer
Neurosurgery, Kartal Dr. Lutfi Kirdar City Hospital, Istanbul, TUR.
Anesthesiology, Dr. Burhan Nalbantoglu State Hospital, Nicosia, CYP.
Cureus. 2023 Sep 12;15(9):e45129. doi: 10.7759/cureus.45129. eCollection 2023 Sep.
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has been a well-established, effective, minimally invasive procedure for the treatment of chronic medically refractory neuropathic pain involving the limbs and trunk. Social media platforms, including Instagram, are increasingly being used for medical education and sharing patient experiences. This study aimed to investigate posts related to SCS on Instagram.
This study presents a comprehensive analysis of Instagram posts utilizing the hashtags #spinalcordneuromodulation, #spinalcordstimulation, #spinalcordstimulationsurgery, #spinalcordstimulationtherapy, and #spinalcordstimulationimplant, all of which were collected on August 1, 2023. The outcomes were organized into four distinct source-based categories: posts generated by medical practitioners (both surgeons and non-surgeons); content shared by medical organizations; content created by patients; and content from indeterminate categories. The content was further classified based on its nature, encompassing educational material and reflections on patient or physician experiences. Moreover, the impact of users was evaluated in terms of their follower count and the count of posts.
The search yielded a total of 4983 posts. The majority of posts were created by medical practitioners (38.53%, n = 1920). The distribution of remaining Instagram posts about SCS was as follows: medical organizations for 35% (n = 1744), patients for 24.12% (n = 1202), and indeterminate categories for 2.35% (n = 117). Among the collected posts, 348 (41.4%) originated from accounts associated with medical practitioners, 286 (34%) from medical organizations, 145 (17.2%) from patients, and 62 (7.4%) remained unspecified. The statistical analysis revealed a significant difference in follower distribution between medical practitioners and all other groups (p<0.001). Reported side effects included pain over the implant (n = 257; 88.92%), lead migration (n = 18; 6.22%), infection (n = 9; 3; 11%), and seroma (n = 5; 1.73%).
When searching for posts about SCS on Instagram, one is more likely to encounter posts authored by medical practitioners that are mostly focused on educational content. Posts created by medical practitioners may be overshadowed and buried among numerous other posts created by patients. We suggest posting educational medical content with the hashtag #MedEd in an attempt to make educational content more easily accessible.
脊髓刺激（SCS）一直是一种成熟、有效且微创的治疗涉及四肢和躯干的慢性药物难治性神经性疼痛的方法。包括照片墙（Instagram）在内的社交媒体平台越来越多地被用于医学教育和分享患者体验。本研究旨在调查照片墙上与脊髓刺激相关的帖子。
本研究对使用标签#脊髓神经调节、#脊髓刺激、#脊髓刺激手术、#脊髓刺激治疗和#脊髓刺激植入物的照片墙帖子进行了全面分析，所有这些标签都是在2023年8月1日收集的。结果被分为四个不同的基于来源的类别：由医学从业者（外科医生和非外科医生）生成的帖子；医学组织分享的内容；患者创建的内容；以及来源不确定的类别。内容根据其性质进一步分类，包括教育材料以及对患者或医生经历的思考。此外，根据用户的关注者数量和帖子数量评估用户的影响力。
搜索共产生4983条帖子。大多数帖子是由医学从业者创建的（38.53%，n = 1920）。其余关于脊髓刺激的照片墙帖子分布如下：医学组织占35%（n = 1744），患者占24.12%（n = 1202），来源不确定的类别占2.35%（n = 117）。在收集的帖子中，348条（41.4%）来自与医学从业者相关的账户，286条（34%）来自医学组织，145条（17.2%）来自患者，62条（7.4%）来源不明。统计分析显示，医学从业者与所有其他群体之间的关注者分布存在显著差异（p<0.001）。报告的副作用包括植入部位疼痛（n = 257；88.92%）、导线移位（n = 18；6.22%）、感染（n = 9；3.11%）和血清肿（n = 5；1.73%）。
在照片墙上搜索关于脊髓刺激的帖子时，人们更有可能遇到医学从业者撰写的主要侧重于教育内容的帖子。医学从业者创建的帖子可能会被患者创建的众多其他帖子掩盖和埋没。我们建议使用标签#医学教育（#MedEd）发布教育性医学内容，以使教育内容更容易获取。
