Is current information available useful for patients and their families?

Internet has recently evolved as a versatile and influential repository of information including those pertaining to neurosurgery. This study was unde rtaken to find out whether there is good quality information currently avai lable on the Internet for neurosurgery patients and their families. We surv eyed the World Wide Web (www) for information on 5 neurosurgery-terms: pall idotomy, lumbar discectomy, hydrocephlus, glioma and carotid artery aneurys m. We searched the www using Google search-engine for documents related to each of the above terms and then assessed the information contained in the first 30-hits for each term using a simple 4-point grading system. Our stud y suggests that there is generally a good quantity of good quality informat ion on the Internet for neurosurgery patients and their families. Internet provides an opportunity for patient associations and professional bodies to collaborate to create useful databases to help neurosurgery patients and t heir relatives.