Current research status and development trends of urinary tract endometriosis: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Background: Endometriosis is a common gynecological disorder, with rising incidence rates and a decreasing age of onset, significantly affecting patients' quality of life and overall health. Urinary tract endometriosis (UTE) is a rare and invasive form of endometriosis that often leads to urinary obstruction and can even result in renal failure. The clinical significance of diagnosing and treating UTE is increasingly recognized. However, there is currently a lack of systematic bibliometric analysis to provide an overview of this field. The purpose of this study is to comprehensively summarize the research status in this field over the past 30 years and predict future development trends to address diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.

Methods: A comprehensive analysis was conducted on literature related to UTE published in the Web of Science Core Collection from 1995 to 2024. Research trends in this field were thoroughly analyzed and visualized using VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and the Bibliometrix R package.

Results: A total of 361 publications were analyzed, sourced from 122 journals, authored by 1,699 scholars affiliated with 610 institutions across 48 countries. Notably, Charles Chapron, Pietro Santulli, and Bruno Borghese from France led in publication volume. The University of Paris emerged as a prominent institution in this research area. Co-occurrence and co-citation analyses indicated that Charles Chapron holds the top position among global authors, demonstrating significant influence in the field. Future key research directions include studying the pathogenesis of the disease, conducting epidemiological studies, and developing comprehensive management strategies, with particular emphasis on renal and urethral endometriosis.

Conclusions: This study represents the first bibliometric analysis of UTE, summarizing its key values and emerging trends. The treatment approach for UTE has undergone significant changes due to ongoing research, shifting from surgical interventions to integrated management strategies. This evolution encompasses early diagnosis, treatment options, preoperative assessment and preparation, and long-term postoperative follow-up. The importance of enhanced collaboration among specialists in urology, gynecology, and other multidisciplinary areas is emphasized to promote effective diagnosis and treatment of UTE.

Keywords: CiteSpace; Urinary tract endometriosis (UTE); bibliometric; visualization analysis.

Figure 1

Flowchart of this research.

Figure 2

The number of publications each year in this field and the overall trend.

Figure 3

Display of cooperation relations between countries and institutions. (A) Network diagram of cooperation between countries in this field. (B) Time mapping network diagram of cooperation between countries. (C) Annual growth trends in the number of publications in the six countries with the most publications in this field. (D) Bar chart of the annual number of publications and international cooperation for the top 20 countries producing the most publications in this field. SCP: number of publications with authors in the same country; MCP: number of publications with authors in multiple countries. (E) Cooperation network between research institutions in this field. A node with variable colors means papers are produced in this institution in different years.

Figure 4

Cooperation relations between authors in this field. The size of each node corresponds to the number of papers published by that author. The lines connecting the nodes represent the cooperative relationship between authors. Different colors represent different years in which the author produced the paper.

Figure 5

Overview of journals in this field. (A) Visualization of journals based on Bradford’s Law. (B) Visualization of journal co-citation analysis network on time mapping.

Figure 6

The dual-map overlay of journals related to this field.

Figure 7

Keyword correlation analysis. (A) Co-citation analysis of keywords in this field. (B) Keyword network based on time mapping. (C) Analysis of explosive words. (D) Thematic map of keywords.

Figure 8

Co-citation network of authors and references in this field. (A) Network visualization of co-cited authors in the field. The figure included labels for the top 20 authors with the highest number of co-citations. (B) The Network map of co-cited references from the publications. The co-citation relationship of reference with the highest number of co-citations was highlighted.