PubMedCurrent problems in diagnostic radiology2026-06-13
Awareness, discussion, and understanding of interventional radiology Procedures among non-interventional radiology medical providers on X: A social media infodemiology study.
Morar Satya K SK, Makary Mina S MS
To characterize how non-interventional radiology (IR) medical providers discuss IR procedures on X.com (formerly Twitter, Inc; San Francisco, CA), including awareness, referral intent, engagement, and misinformation.
This retrospective infodemiology study evaluated public English-language X posts from January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2025. Long-form queries were used to identify posts related to uterine fibroid embolization (UFE), prostatic artery embolization (PAE), Y90 radioembolization (Y90), transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), gastric artery embolization (GAE), tumor ablation, and related procedures. After de-duplication and exclusion of reposts without commentary, IR-authored posts, and likely marketing or spam accounts, the final primary corpus comprised approximately 5,220 posts. Posts were coded for sentiment, awareness level, and thematic content. Statistical analyses included chi-square tests for categorical comparisons, Kruskal-Wallis tests for nonparametric continuous comparisons, Mann-Kendall trend tests for directional volume analysis, and Wilson's method for confidence interval estimation of referral-intent prevalence.
Discussion volume increased over the study period, although quarterly trend testing did not reach conventional statistical significance (tau = 0.43; P = .07). PAE and Y90/TACE produced the highest adjusted post volumes (approximately 4,387 and 4,458 posts, respectively), whereas UFE yielded a smaller but more procedure-specific corpus (approximately 466 posts). GAE demonstrated a high raw post volume (n = 13,853) but an estimated on-topic rate of only 12%, reflecting heavy contamination from non-medical acronyms; the adjusted on-topic estimate was approximately 1,662 posts. Urology and radiation oncology providers showed the clearest engagement with PAE-related content, including explicit referral-intent posts. Medical and surgical oncology accounts were active in Y90/TACE discussions, including research and access-barrier themes. No verified obstetrics and gynecology physician accounts were identified in the long-form UFE corpus. Referral-intent posts represented 8.1% of the primary corpus (95% confidence interval, 6.5%-9.8%; approximately 418 posts) and generated greater engagement than routine educational posts. Misinformation represented approximately 7% of posts by volume but achieved disproportionate reach.
Awareness of IR procedures on social media was uneven and specialty-dependent, with misinformation achieving disproportionate reach. These findings support targeted outreach to referring specialties and proactive monitoring of promoted information on social media.