Investigating Research Hotspots and Publication Trends of Spinal Stenosis: A Bibliometric Analysis during 2000-2018
Abstract Background: Spinal stenosis is a common elderly disease, present in a variety of forms. High incidence forces researchers to pay more attention and give countermeasures. Our study aimed to conclude the knowledge hierarchy and research anticipation of spinal stenosis according to bibliometric analysis.Methods: Admitted published papers were obtained from Web of Science Core collection and PubMed database. Bibliometric analysis was conducted by using online analysis software CiteSpace and Bibliographic Item Co-Occurrence Matrix Builder (BICOMB). Exported major MeSH terms were further biclustered with gCLUTO according to co-word analysis. Then the research hotspots and publication trends were identified based on the high-frequency MeSH terms.Results: 5606 scientific literatures were retrieved about spinal stenosis and the number maintained a roughly increasing trend from 108 in 2000 to 512 in 2018, only declining in 2011. The United States is the country keeping an academic leadership in this field. And the journal SPINE was the most authoritative with total 695 articles and average 12.73 citations. There were 17 major and 18 expanded MeSH terms extracted after bibliometric analysis. Co-word and biclustering analysis revealed seven research hotspots involved in etiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestation, conservative treatment, operative indication, internal implantation and postoperative complications. Conclusions: In this study, we revealed the research hotspots in spinal stenosis focusing on the pathogenesis and surgical treatment. Narrowing caused by the pathological change of flavum ligamentum hypertrophy and posterior longitudinal ligament ossification attracts more attention in recent years. Besides, minimally invasive surgery and internal implantation fixation are more valid in clinical. Refining pathological classification, optimizing surgical method and instrument property will be an expectable direction of spinal stenosis.