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. 2024 Apr 17:15:1360091.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1360091. eCollection 2024.

Research trend of MRI application for lumbar disc degeneration with low back pain: a bibliometric analysis

Azzam Saeed #  1 , Haoyue Shao #  1 , Kamal Hezam  2 , Chaoxu Liu  3 , Qiya Zhang  1 , Xiangyu Tang  1
Affiliations

Research trend of MRI application for lumbar disc degeneration with low back pain: a bibliometric analysis

Azzam Saeed et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

Background: Low Back Pain (LBP) is a pervasive and complex musculoskeletal condition affecting over 80% of the global population. Lumbar Disc Degeneration (LDD) significantly contributes to LBP, and MRI is crucial for its diagnosis and understanding. This study aimes to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of MRI research on LDD with LBP, shedding light on research patterns, collaborations, and potential knowledge gaps.

Methods: A comprehensive online search was conducted in the Scopus database to retrieve published literature on LDD with LBP. Bibliometric analysis was conducted to assess publication patterns, co-authorship networks, keyword co-occurrence, and co-citation analysis within the MRI applications for LDD research domain. Bibliometric analysis tools such as VOSviewer and the R package "bibliometrix" were utilized for quantitative assessments.

Results: A total of 1,619 publications related to MRI and LDD were analyzed. The analysis indicated a consistent annual growth rate of 4.62% in publications related to MRI and lumbar disc degeneration, reflecting a steady increase in research output over the past two decades. The USA, China, and Japan emerged as leading contributors. "SPINE", "European Spine Journal", and "Spine Journal" were the most productive journals in this domain. Key research themes identified included lumbar spine, low back pain, and magnetic resonance imaging. Network visualization shows that low back pain and magnetic resonance imaging were the most widely used keywords.

Conclusion: The comprehensive bibliometric analysis of MRI applications for Lumbar Disc Degeneration offers insights into prevailing research patterns, highlights key contributors and journals, and identifies significant research themes. This study provides a foundation for future research efforts and clinical practices in the field, ultimately contributing to the advancement of patient care for individuals suffering from LDD and associated Low Back Pain.

Keywords: MRI applications; bibliometric analysis; low back pain; lumbar disc degeneration; magnetic resonance imaging.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Annual scientific production. (A) Number of documents by year. (B) Lotka's Law coefficient estimation for describing the frequency of publication by authors.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Number of citations per year. (B) Average citations per year.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Trends analysis of articles and citations. (A) Annual trends for identified topics. (B) Annual trends analysis of articles and citations.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Most productive authors.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Top 10 journals by number of publications.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Most active institutions by number of publications.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Top prolific corresponding authors' countries.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Keywords analysis. (A) Three fields plot to visualize the main items of three fields (authors, keywords, journals). (B) Author's keywords usage evolution over time.
Figure 9
Figure 9
(A) Factorial map of the documents with the highest contributes. (B) Factorial map of the most cited documents.
Figure 10
Figure 10
The function conceptual structure map and keyword clusters.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Bibliographic coupling map of Journals (A), documents (B) and countries (C).
Figure 12
Figure 12
Keywords visualization map for Wordcloud visualization map (A), All keywords map (B), Author keywords map (C) and Keywords index map (D).
Figure 13
Figure 13
Co-authorship countries visualization map.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Co-citation visualization map for cited references (A) and authors (B).
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