An Evaluation of Trends in Patient and Public Awareness of IR

Abstract Purpose To evaluate patient and public awareness of interventional radiology (IR). Materials and Methods This single-center study prospectively administered voluntary paper surveys to 80 patients in an academic hospital radiology waiting room. Separate, Internet-based surveys were administered to the general public. Additionally, Internet metadata were used to evaluate relative search engine activity and IR-related news coverage compared with similar procedural specialties. Results 65% of radiology department outpatients had no prior knowledge of IR. Of the general population surveyed, 72% could not identify an interventional radiologist as a physician. Relative annual IR-related Google search volumes peaked in 2004 and were at their nadir in 2011. After normalizing for number of practicing physicians, IR was the subject of substantially fewer Google searches than similar specialties (15.9% of urology volumes, 27.9% of cardiology volumes, and 39.0% of vascular surgery volumes). Between 2006 and 2016, IR had a similar rate of annual increase in the volume of Internet news results as similar medical specialties, although the volumes reached by IR in 2016 were obtained by more established fields, such as cardiology, in 2011. Conclusions These data provide metrics of current and historical awareness trends in IR, which demonstrate low patient and public awareness. The findings of this study may help guide future efforts to promote patient and public awareness of IR.