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. 2023 May 25:17:1158712.
doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1158712. eCollection 2023.

Research hotspots and trends on spinal cord stimulation for pain treatment: a two-decade bibliometric analysis

Sheng Yang  1 , Sen Zhong  2 , Yunshan Fan  1 , Yanjie Zhu  1 , Ningze Xu  3 , Yue Liao  3 , Guoxin Fan  4   5   6 , Xiang Liao  4   5 , Shisheng He  1
Affiliations

Research hotspots and trends on spinal cord stimulation for pain treatment: a two-decade bibliometric analysis

Sheng Yang et al. Front Neurosci. .

Abstract

Background: Chronic pain poses a significant social burden. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is considered to be the most promising treatment for refractory pain. The aim of this study was to summarize the current research hotspots on SCS for pain treatment during the past two decades and to predict the future research trends by bibliometric analysis.

Methods: The literature over the last two decades (2002-2022) which was related to SCS in pain treatment was obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. Bibliometric analyses were conducted based on the following aspects: (1) Annual publication and citation trends; (2) Annual publication changes of different publication types; (3) Publications and citations/co-citations of different country/institution/journal/author; (4) Citations/co-citation and citation burst analysis of different literature; and (5) Co-occurrence, cluster, thematic map, trend topics, and citation burst analysis of different keywords. (6) Comparison between the United States and Europe. All analyses were performed on CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and R bibliometrix package.

Results: A total of 1,392 articles were included in this study, with an increasing number of publications and citations year by year. The most highly published type of literature was clinical trial. United States was the country with the most publications and citations; Johns Hopkins University was the institution with the most publications; NEUROMODULATION published the most papers; the most published author was Linderoth B; and the most cited paper was published in the PAIN by Kumar K in 2007. The most frequently occurring keywords were "spinal cord stimulation," "neuropathic pain," and "chronic pain," etc.

Conclusion: The positive effect of SCS on pain treatment has continued to arouse the enthusiasm of researchers in this field. Future research should focus on the development of new technologies, innovative applications, and clinical trials for SCS. This study might facilitate researchers to comprehensively understand the overall perspective, research hotspots, and future development trends in this field, as well as seek collaboration with other researchers.

Keywords: CiteSpace; VOSviewer; bibliometric; bibliometrix; pain treatment; research trends; spinal cord stimulation.

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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
(A) The screening process of selected literature in this study. (B) Annual trends of publications and citations.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Annual changes in different publication types. (A) The annual change of different publication types presented by line chart. (B) The annual change of different publication types presented by histogram.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The analysis of countries/regions and institutions. (A) Network map of collaborations among different countries/regions and cluster analysis by CiteSpace. (B) Network map of citations among different countries/regions by VOSviewer. (C) Network map of collaborations among different institutions and cluster analysis by CiteSpace. (D) Network map of citations among different institutions by VOSviewer.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The analysis of journals and authors by VOSviewer. (A) Network map of publications for different journals. (B) Network map of co-citations among different journals. (C) Network map of publications for different authors. (D) Network map of co-citations among different authors.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The analysis of literature. (A) Network map of co-citations among different literature by VOSviewer. (B) The top 25 articles with the strongest citation bursts by CiteSpace.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Keyword co-occurrence in five-yearly analysis by CiteSpace. (A) The co-occurrence of keywords in 2002–2006. (B) The co-occurrence of keywords in 2007–2011. (C) The co-occurrence of keywords in 2012–2017. (D) The co-occurrence of keywords in 2018–2023.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Keyword cluster in five-yearly analysis by CiteSpace. (A) The cluster network of keywords in 2002–2006. (B) The cluster network of keywords in 2007–2011. (C) The cluster network of keywords in 2012–2017. (D) The cluster network of keywords in 2018–2023.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The analysis of keywords. (A) Factorial analysis of keywords constructed using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and hierarchical clustering techniques by R bibliometrix package. (B) Trend topics of keywords by R bibliometrix package. (C) Thematic map of keywords by R bibliometrix package. (D) The top 25 keywords with the strongest citation bursts by CiteSpace.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Comparison between the United States and Europe. (A) The three-field plot (authors-keywords-institutions) of literature published by the USA. (B) The evolution of themes of literature published by the United States. (C) The three-field plot (authors-keywords-institutions) of literature published by the Europe. (D) The evolution of themes of literature published by Europe.
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