{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T10:47:05Z","timestamp":1782902825100,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,11]],"date-time":"2025-02-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1739232000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Current Oncology"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Clear and accessible lay summaries are essential for enhancing the public understanding of scientific knowledge. This study aimed to evaluate whether ChatGPT-4 can generate high-quality lay summaries that are both accurate and comprehensible for prostate cancer research in Current Oncology. To achieve this, it systematically assessed ChatGPT-4\u2019s ability to summarize 80 prostate cancer articles published in the journal between July 2022 and June 2024 using two distinct prompt designs: a basic \u201csimple\u201d prompt and an enhanced \u201cextended\u201d prompt. Readability was assessed using established metrics, including the Flesch\u2013Kincaid Reading Ease (FKRE), while content quality was evaluated with a 5-point Likert scale for alignment with source material. The extended prompt demonstrated significantly higher readability (median FKRE: 40.9 vs. 29.1, p &lt; 0.001), better alignment with quality thresholds (86.2% vs. 47.5%, p &lt; 0.001), and reduced the required reading level, making content more accessible. Both prompt designs produced content with high comprehensiveness (median Likert score: 5). This study highlights the critical role of tailored prompt engineering in optimizing large language models (LLMs) for medical communication. Limitations include the exclusive focus on prostate cancer, the use of predefined prompts without iterative refinement, and the absence of a direct comparison with human-crafted summaries. These findings underscore the transformative potential of LLMs like ChatGPT-4 to streamline the creation of lay summaries, reduce researchers\u2019 workload, and enhance public engagement. Future research should explore prompt variability, incorporate patient feedback, and extend applications across broader medical domains.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/curroncol32020102","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,11]],"date-time":"2025-02-11T11:01:08Z","timestamp":1739271668000},"page":"102","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Leveraging Large Language Models for High-Quality Lay Summaries: Efficacy of ChatGPT-4 with Custom Prompts in a Consecutive Series of Prostate Cancer Manuscripts"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"32","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-7283-5237","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emily","family":"Rinderknecht","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Josef Medical Center, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany"},{"name":"Working Group on Artificial Intelligence and Digitalization of the German Society of Urology"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna","family":"Schmelzer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Elisabeth Hospital Straubing, 94315 Straubing, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-3365-1563","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anton","family":"Kravchuk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Elisabeth Hospital Straubing, 94315 Straubing, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6376-7669","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christopher","family":"Go\u00dfler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Josef Medical Center, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Johannes","family":"Breyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Josef Medical Center, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0211-0636","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christian","family":"Gilfrich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Elisabeth Hospital Straubing, 94315 Straubing, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maximilian","family":"Burger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Josef Medical Center, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Simon","family":"Engelmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Josef Medical Center, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Veronika","family":"Saberi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Josef Medical Center, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Clemens","family":"Kirschner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Josef Medical Center, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dominik","family":"Winning","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Elisabeth Hospital Straubing, 94315 Straubing, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1796-3260","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roman","family":"Mayr","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Urology, St. Josef 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