Analysis of tumor treatment under interventional ultrasound through structural and temporal dynamics: a bibliometric visualization

Abstract

Background: Ultrasound is considered one of the most crucial tools for image-guided tumor ablation, and provides a vital alternative approach to tumor treatment. This study used bibliometric methods to characterize the development history of tumor treatment under interventional ultrasound and explore future research hotspots.

Methods: In this study, we retrieved and selected publications on tumor treatment under interventional ultrasound from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database published from 1960 to 2023. In total, 2,588 articles were included in our study. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to explore various aspects of this field, such as global publication trends, institutional and author collaborations, high-impact journals, highly cited publications, and the evolution of research hotspots.

Results: Our results revealed that the global publication output in this field has continuously increased over the past few decades with China and the United States emerging as the most active contributors and maintaining close collaborative relationships. Several institutions and authors, including Chongqing Medical University, had a high publication volume, high citation counts, and a high number of collaborations in this field. Journals like the "Journal of Urology" and "Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology" have enriched the literature resources and fostered developments in this field. In addition, a keyword analysis revealed the main focus areas in this field.

Conclusions: Based on our analysis, we found that the focus of research on tumor treatment under interventional ultrasound has shifted from the exploration of clinical applications to technological advancements and safety. This study also revealed the historical trajectory and identified future trends in this field.

Keywords: Interventional ultrasound; ablation; bibliometrics; high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU); tumor treatment.

Figure 1

Global trends in research on tumor treatment under interventional ultrasound. (A) The workflow of this study. (B) The number of publications per year, and the cumulative number of publications per year. (C) The top 10 countries/regions with the highest number of publications. (D) The top 10 countries/regions with the highest total citations. (E) Heatmap of the temporal distribution of the publication trends for various countries/regions. (F) Map of collaboration networks between countries/regions. TS, topic search.

Figure 2

Analysis of institutional and author distribution. (A) Chord diagram illustrating collaboration relationships among the top 30 institutions by publication volume. (B) Density visualization of institutions based on the number of citations. (C) Author collaboration network graph and overlay visualization. (D) Top 10 authors with the highest number of publications in the author collaboration network.

Figure 3

Analysis of high-impact journals and highly cited publications. (A) The top 15 academic journals based on the number of publications and their impact factors. (B) The top 15 most frequently cited publications. (C) Dual-map overlay of the journals.

Figure 4

Keywords and evolutions in this research field. (A) Co-occurrence network of keywords. (B) Clustering of keywords. (C) Keyword burst analysis results from 1994 to 2023. (D) Timeline view of keywords from 1994 to 2023. CT, computed tomography.