Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to highlight the trends in the minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) research field from the bibliometrics perspective.

Methods: The articles and reviews from 2002 to 2022 were manually retrieved from Scopus based on predefined inclusion criteria. A total of 296 articles for robotics and 13 articles for AI were included in the final analysis. All publication records were imported and analyzed in Microsoft Excel and VOSviewer.

Results: An increase in the number of publications per year was observed in the last five years. For robotics, the United States published the largest number of articles (161), but the Netherlands had the highest total citations (1216). Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, China, was the most prolific institution. For journals, World Neurosurgery had the most publications (31), while Spine journal was the most impactful (average citation index = 86.6). Wang T.Y was the author with the most published articles (5). For AI, the United States had the greatest number of publications (10) and the highest citations (229). Global Spine Journal had the most publications (3), while Spine had the most citations (112). Kim J.S. was the most cited author (102). Recent keywords mainly focused on techniques and prognoses using these modalities in MISS. There were relatively fewer collaborations among countries.

Conclusions: An increasing trend in publications regarding robotics and AI use reflects the recent MISS technique advancements. Our findings can provide useful information to identify potential research fronts in the coming years. Enhanced collaboration on an international level should be pursued.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Bibliometrics; Neurosurgery; Prognosis; Robotics.