Use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction in the last 10 years: A Scopus-based literature analysis

Jiajun Chen; Min Yao; Yunhua Zhao; Xiya Jin; Yuanbing Li; Lihong Huang

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2012.36.013

Use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction in the last 10 years: A Scopus-based literature analysis

Neural Regen Res. 2012 Dec 25;7(36):2944-51. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2012.36.013.

Authors

Jiajun Chen¹, Min Yao¹, Yunhua Zhao¹, Xiya Jin¹, Yuanbing Li¹, Lihong Huang²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130031, Jilin Province, China.
² Department of Gerontology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130031, Jilin Province, China.

PMID: 25317148
PMCID: PMC4190954
DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2012.36.013

Abstract

Objective: To identify global research trends in the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction.

Data retrieval: We performed a bibliometric analysis of studies on the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction published during 2002-2011, retrieved from Scopus, using the key words of acupuncture and cerebral infarction or ischemic stroke.

Inclusion criteria: peer-reviewed articles on the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction indexed in Scopus and published between 2002 and 2011; types of publications were original research articles, reviews, meeting abstracts, proceedings papers, book chapters, editorial material, and news items.

Exclusion criteria: articles that required manual searching or telephone access; documents that were not published in the public domain; and corrected papers.

Main outcome measures: (a) Annual publication output; (b) language of publication; (c) type of publication; (d) key words of publication; (e) publication by research field; (f) publication by journal; (g) publication by country and institution; (h) publication by author; (i) most-cited papers between 2002 and 2006; and (j) most-cited papers between 2007 and 2011.

Results: A total of 160 publications on the use of acupuncture to treat cerebral infarction from 2002-2011 were retrieved from Scopus. The number of publications increased gradually over the 10-year study period; most were written in Chinese or English. Articles and reviews constituted the major types. The most frequent key word used was acupuncture. The most prolific journals in this area were Zhongguo Zhen Jiu and the Chinese Journal of Clinical Rehabilitation. Of the 160 publications retrieved, half came from Chinese authors and institutions. Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine was the most prolific research institute. Two papers were cited 30 times; they were published in 2002 and 2009, respectively.

Conclusion: In the field of neuroscience, there is little literature on acupuncture for cerebral infarction. The most-cited papers were cited 30 times in the past 3 years. We believe that, with advances in the study of mechanisms in neurobiology, research on acupuncture will also advance and will become the concern of more scholars.

Keywords: Scopus; acupuncture; blood flow; cerebral infarction; cerebral ischemia; collateral circulation; glial cell; hemiplegia; ischemic stroke; neural regeneration.