title: Web-based information on intraoperative neuromonitoring in thyroid surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This is a preliminary analysis of intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM)-related websites available to the general public with respect to thyroid surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four key terms and/or phrases (neuromonitoring AND thyroid AND neck surgery, intraoperative neuromonitoring, intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring, IONM) were entered separately into the search engines Google.com, Yahoo.com and Bing.com. The first 50 results obtained for each search procedure were evaluated. Websites were evaluated for content quality using the validated DISCERN rating instrument. Readability was graded by the Flesch Reading Ease Score and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results were related to scientific publications in most cases (64%). A large percentage (59%) of the servers are located in the USA. The main language used is English (91%); only 19% of the websites are multilingual or in other languages. 58% of the sites were rated as excellent to good and 42% as fair to poor. The median Flesch Reading Ease Score was 49.6; the median Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level was 13.85.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  World Wide Web information about IONM in thyroid surgery is too specific and difficult and poorly accessible to the general public.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, Endocrine Surgery Research Center, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Cesare Carlo
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, Endocrine Surgery Research Center, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Sebastiano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spampatti
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, Endocrine Surgery Research Center, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leotta
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, Endocrine Surgery Research Center, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rausei
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, Endocrine Surgery Research Center, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rovera
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, Endocrine Surgery Research Center, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boni
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, Endocrine Surgery Research Center, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Inversini
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, Endocrine Surgery Research Center, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carcano
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, Endocrine Surgery Research Center, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianlorenzo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dionigi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Human Morphology, Endocrine Surgery Research Center, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Renzo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dionigi
mesh_terms: D054626:Consumer Health Information; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D064795:Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D057386:Search Engine; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000601:surgery*
keywords: Intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) Websites; Thyroid parathyroid neck surgery; intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring