Evaluation of YouTube Videos in Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Pulmonary Lobectomy Education

Background: YouTube(R) (YouTube, San Bruno, CA) is the most popular, public domain, free access video source. The educational value of the videos is difficult to determine. This study aimed to determine the evaluation of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy videos as an educational source on the YouTube platform. Materials and Methods: VATS lobectomy, as a keyword, was searched on YouTube and sorted by the number of visualizations. The top 25 most viewed VATS lobectomy videos uploaded to YouTube were analyzed. The videos were evaluated for critical view of safety (CVS) and LAParoscopic surgery Video Educational GuidelineS (LAP-VEGaS). Results: There were similar to 1670 videos for the search term "VATS lobectomy." There were 16 primary surgeons from 8 different countries. Most of the videos (n = 19) were affiliated to an academic institution. There was a positive significant correlation between author's h-index and number of likes. Videos showed conformity to CVS assessment with a rate of 56.5%. LAP-VEGaS conformity to educational content (e.g., audio or written commentary) and case presentation was very low. Conclusions: Using videos of VATS lobectomy in training may have great potential to improve surgical opinion. YouTube is user driven and these videos are not peer reviewed. This article showed issues concerning safety violations. We believe that professional societies should focus on promoting and disseminating valuable educational videos.