Publication trends and knowledge mapping in 3D printing in orthopaedics

Abstract

Purpose: Three dimensional (3D) printing, also called 'rapid prototyping' and 'additive manufacturing' is considered as a "second industrial revolution." With this rapidly emerging technology, CT or MR images are used for the creation of graspable objects from 3D reconstituted images. Patient-specific anatomical models can be, therefore, manufactured efficiently. These can enhance surgeon's understanding of their patients' patho-anatomy and also help in precise preoperative planning. The 3D printed patient-specific guides can also help in achieving accurate bony cuts, precise implant placement, and nice surgical results. Customized implants, casts, orthoses and prosthetics can be created to match an individual patient's anatomy. The 3D printing of individualized artificial cartilage scaffolds and 3D bioprinting are some other areas of growing interest. We aim to study the publication trends in 3D printing as applied to the field of orthopaedics.

Materials and methods: A literature search was performed to extract all papers related to 3D printing applications in orthopaedics and allied sciences on the Pubmed, Web of Science and SCOPUS databases. Suitable keywords and boolean operators ("3D Printing" OR "3-dimensional printing" OR "3D printed" OR "additive manufacturing" OR "rapid prototyping") AND (''Orthopaedics" OR "Orthopaedics'') were used, in May 2018. Search was attempted in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Database of Abstracts of Review of Effectiveness (DARE) databases, using keywords 3d printing orthopaedics. A similar search was repeated in pubmed and SCOPUS to get more specific papers.No limits were set on the period or evidence level, as 3D printing in orthopaedics is relatively new and evidence available is usually limited to low-level studies. Trends in a publication on these topics were analyzed, focussing on publications, type of research (basic science or clinical), type of publication, authors, institution, and country. Some citations received by these papers were also analyzed in SCOPUS and Web of Science. MS Excel (2008 - Mac version) and VOS Viewer1.6.8 (2018- Mac version) software were used to analyze the search results and for citation mapping respectively. We also identified top 10 most cited articles in the field.

Results: An increasing trend in publications in 3D printing-related work in orthopedic surgery and related fields was observed in the recent past. A search on Pubmed using the above strategy revealed 389 documents. A similar search revealed 653 documents on SCOPUS, many (314) of which were from an engineering background and only 271 were related to medicine. No papers were found in the Cochrane database. Search on TRIP database revealed 195 papers. A similar search revealed 237 papers on orthopedic applications on Pubmed and 269 documents on SCOPUS, whereas a search on Web of Science revealed only 23 papers. Publication trends were then analyzed on data derived from SCOPUS database. Overall, most papers were published from China, followed by United States, United Kingdom, and India.

Conclusion: There has been an upsurge of interest in 3D printing in orthopedic surgery, as is evident by an increasing trend in research and publications in this area in the recent years. Presently, 3D printing is in a primitive stage in the field of orthopedic surgery as our knowledge is still insufficient, and costs and learning curve are somewhat high. However, looking at latest publication trends, we are enthusiastic that it holds the key to future in orthopaedics and trauma cases.

Keywords: 3D printing; Additive manufacturing; Arthroplasty; Orthopaedics; Rapid prototyping; Spine.

Fig. 1

An increasing trend in publications related to 3D printing in orthopedic surgery in Pubmed.

Fig. 2

An increasing trend in publications related to 3D printing in orthopedic surgery in SCOPUS.

Fig. 3

Distribution of countries/regions contributing to global publications in Orthopedic applications of 3D printing in SCOPUS data.

Fig. 4

Distribution of institutions/universities contributing to global publications in Orthopedic applications of 3D printing in SCOPUS data.

Fig. 5

Distribution of authors of papers on 3D printing in Orthopaedics in SCOPUS data.

Fig. 6

Distribution of published journals publishing papers on 3D printing in Orthopaedics. – Overall distribution of SCOPUS data (Fig. 6a. Distribution of published journals publishing papers on 3D printing in Orthopaedics-Growth over the years in SCOPUS, Fig. 6b. Distribution of published journals publishing papers on 3D printing in Orthopaedics-in established orthopedic journals with growth over the years in SCOPUS).

Fig. 7

Knowledge mapping and network visualization on VOSviewer. 7a)Density visualization on keywords on 3D Printing in orthopaedics on Pubmed data. The words in the central red area were used most frequently. 7b)Networking of keywords in Pubmed data. Two terms are said to co-occur if they both occur on the same line. The smaller the distance between the two terms, the more significant the number of co-occurrences of the terms. 7c)Density visualization of co-authorship on 3D Printing in orthopaedics in Pubmed data. 7d)Networking of co-authorship in pubmed data. 7e)Density visualization of co-cited references on SCOPUS data. Different colors represent different co-cited times of articles. The color of an item was determined by the co-cited times, where by default colors range from blue (few times) to green (average times) to red (many times). Items in one red circle linked closer to each other than items in other areas. So the valuable papers with high co-cited times can be found in red circles. 7f)Networking on co-cited references of papers on 3D Printing in orthopaedics on SCOPUS data. Only a few papers were included. (The line between every 2 points means both were cited in one paper: if the line is thicker, the link between 2 papers is closer). 7g)Density visualization of journals publishing research on 3D Printing in orthopaedics in SCOPUS data. 7h)Networking of journals publishing research on 3D Printing in orthopaedics in SCOPUS data.