Performance Comparison Between Domestic and International Large Language Models in Patient Education for Chinese Patients with Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Cross-Sectional Study.

DeepSeek, Doubao, and Gemini are the preferred large language models for lumbar disc herniation patient education in China.

While leading domestic models challenge the stereotype of international superiority in medical logic, the general scarcity of "excellent" responses (<25%) indicates large language models remain auxiliary tools.

Future optimization should prioritize Retrieval-Augmented Generation (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) anchored in local clinical guidelines to ensure safe deployment.