Research trends and prospects on brain metastasis from breast cancer: A bibliometric analysis

Si-Qi Wu; Yan Liu; Jie Zhou; Yan-Ting You; Xing-Hong Zhou; Li-Qian Chen; Hiu Yee Kwan; Xiao-Shan Zhao; Yi-Fen Wu; Yan-Yan Liu

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1091249

Research trends and prospects on brain metastasis from breast cancer: A bibliometric analysis

Front Oncol. 2023 Apr 5:13:1091249. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1091249. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
² School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ Department of Oncology, Affiliated Dongguan People's Hospital, Southern Medical University, Dongguan, Guangdong, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Brain metastasis is the terminal event of breast cancer with poor prognoses. Therefore, this article aimed to provide an updated summary on the development, hotspots, and research trends of brain metastasis from breast cancer based on bibliometric analysis.

Method: Publications on breast cancer with brain metastasis retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and other online bibliometric analysis platforms were used to analyze and visualize the result.

Result: In totality, 693 researchers from 3,623 institutions across 74 counties and regions published a total of 2,790 papers in 607 journals. There was a noticeable increase in publications in 2006. The United States was the dominant country with the most publications followed by China. University Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was the most productive institution, while Dana Farber Cancer Institution was the most cited. Journal of Neuro-Oncology published the most papers, while Journal of Clinical Oncology ranked first based on cocited analysis. Nancy U. Lin was the most productive and cited author with high influence. There was a focus on basic research, clinical trials, local therapy, treatment optimization, and epidemiological studies regarding brain metastases from breast cancer. References focused on pathogenesis, prevention, treatment, and prognosis were cited most frequently, among which the clinical trial of novel treatment attracted most attention from researchers. Reference citation burst detection suggested that new therapies such as the novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor and antibody-drug conjugate may lead the research trends in the future.

Conclusion: High-income countries contributed more to the field of breast cancer with brain metastasis, while developing countries like China developed quickly. Furthermore, the success of novel therapies in recent years may lead to the new era of treatment of breast cancer with brain metastasis in the future.

Keywords: ADC (antibody-drug conjugate); TKI (tyrosine kinase inhibitor); bibliometric analysis; brain metastasis; breast cancer; research trend.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 81873205, 81803877, 82104629, 81904037), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (2020B1515120063) and Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (NO. 2022M711536).