Worldwide Trends of Research on Periprosthetic Osteolysis: A Bibliometric Study Based on VOSviewer

Abstract

Background: Due to the increasing number of joint arthroplasty operations, surgeons have begun to devote more attention to the problem of periprosthetic osteolysis. In recent years, numerous studies have focussed on periprosthetic osteolysis, but there have been no relevant bibliometric studies. Methods: We searched the Web of Science database for relevant articles concerning periprosthetic osteolysis published from 1965 to 2021. The following data were extracted: authors’ name, article title, publication journal, impact factor (IF) of the journal in the publication year, keywords, topic of the article, publication country/region, the sum of times cited, H-index and funding sources. VOSviewer and Excel 2019 were used to conduct the bibliometric study and visualise the analysis. Results: A total of 1255 publications were included. In all selected articles, “orthopaedics” became the dominant topic (662 of 1255, 52.75%). The most productive years were 2018 and 2019, with a total of 83 publications. The Journal of Arthroplasty published the most articles on periprosthetic osteolysis (110 publications). The United States of America published the most articles (525, 41.83%). The latest keywords “continuous intramedullary infusion”, “erythromycin”, “autophagy”, “bone-resorbing cells” and “proinflammatory cytokines” both appeared in five articles in 2017. Conclusion: This bibliometric study showed that there is a growing trend in published articles related to periprosthetic osteolysis. Journal of Arthroplasty was the top productive journal on periprosthetic osteolysis. The United States of America dominates studies of periprosthetic osteolysis. “Continuous intramedullary infusion”, “erythromycin”, “autophagy”, “bone-resorbing cells” and “proinflammatory cytokines” may be new research hotspots in the field of periprosthetic osteolysis.