ArticleEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2024
Large language models: Are artificial intelligence-based chatbots a reliable source of patient information for spinal surgery?
Article in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Large Language Models for Chatbot Health Advice Studies: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2025Pooled it
- Examining the Role of Large Language Models in Orthopedics: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Review
- Communicating With Children With Cancer: Development of a Chatbot-Based Educational Support Tool.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2026Article
- Publicly Accessible Large Language Model Responses to Frequently Asked Questions About Spondylodiscitis: Preliminary Expert Evaluation.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Spine patient history-taking: a two phase study of a prompt-engineered large language model assistant.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Performance of large language models in interpreting evidence-based clinical guidelines for lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- An expert-led benchmark using common patient questions: evaluating large language models for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis education.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Comparative Quality Assessment of Artificial Intelligence in Patient Education on Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy.Journal of personalized medicine · 2026Article
- Medical large language models and systems in the clinical application of spinal diseases: Current status, challenges, and future prospects.Journal of orthopaedic translation · 2026Review
- Developing an artificial intelligence-powered question-and-answer chatbot with English-Spanish capabilities for new mothers.JAMIA open · 2026Article
- Large language models for surgical informed consent: an ethical perspective on simulated empathy.Journal of medical ethics · 2026Article
- Current trends and future prospects of language models and processing systems in spine surgery - a scoping review.Neurosurgical review · 2025Article
- Large Language Models in Spine Surgery: A Promising Technology.HSS journal : the musculoskeletal journal of Hospital for Special Surgery · 2025Review
- Clinical Failure of General-Purpose AI in Photographic Scoliosis Assessment: A Diagnostic Accuracy Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Digitalizing informed consent in healthcare: a scoping review.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Exploring Stakeholders' Perceptions of Using Digital Health Technologies to Improve the Conservative Treatment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Qualitative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Article
- Current applications and challenges in large language models for patient care: a systematic review.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- The age of Artificial Intelligence in neurosurgical practice and educational paradigms - Considerations from the EANS Ethico-Legal and Young Neurosurgeons' committees.Brain & spine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeLarge language models (LLM) have recently attracted attention because of their enormous performance. Based on artificial intelligence, LLM enable dialogic communication using quasi-natural language that approximates the quality of human communication. Thus, LLM could play an important role for patients to become informed. To evaluate the validity of an LLM in providing medical information, we used one of the first high-performance LLM (ChatGPT) on the clinical example of acute lumbar disc herniation (LDH).
methodsTwenty-four spinal surgeons experienced in LDH surgery directed questions to ChatGPT about the clinical picture of LDH from a patient's perspective. They evaluated the quality of ChatGPT responses and its potential use in medical communication. The responses were compared with the information content of a standard informed consent form.
resultsChatGPT provided good results in terms of comprehensibility, specificity, and satisfaction of responses and in terms of medical accuracy and completeness. ChatGPT was not able to provide all the information that was provided in the informed consent form, but did communicate information that was not listed there. In some cases, albeit minor, ChatGPT made medically inaccurate claims, such as listing kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty as surgical options for LDH.
conclusionWith the incipient use of artificial intelligence in communication, LLM will certainly become increasingly important to patients. Even if LLM are unlikely to play a role in clinical communication between physicians and patients at the moment, the opportunities-but also the risks-of this novel technology should be alertly monitored.
Indexed as
Identifiers
37821602What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.