Global trends in indocyanine green fluorescence navigation in the field of gastric cancer: bibliometrics and knowledge atlas analysis

Guoyang Zhang; Yujun Zhang; Yiwei Zhang; Wentao Zhao; Yu Xia; Jingjing Song; Zongfeng Feng; Li Liu; Xufeng Shu; Ahao Wu; Yukang Wu; Yi Cao; Zhigang Jie; Zhengrong Li

doi:10.21037/qims-23-391

Global trends in indocyanine green fluorescence navigation in the field of gastric cancer: bibliometrics and knowledge atlas analysis

Quant Imaging Med Surg. 2023 Oct 1;13(10):7117-7141. doi: 10.21037/qims-23-391. Epub 2023 Aug 23.

Authors

Guoyang Zhang^#^{1

2}, Yujun Zhang^#³, Yiwei Zhang^#⁴, Wentao Zhao⁵, Yu Xia⁶, Jingjing Song³, Zongfeng Feng^{1

2}, Li Liu¹, Xufeng Shu¹, Ahao Wu¹, Yukang Wu¹, Yi Cao¹, Zhigang Jie¹, Zhengrong Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Digestive Surgery, Digestive Disease Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
² Medical Innovation Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
³ Jiangxi Medical College of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
⁴ Queen Mary College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
⁵ The Third Clinical Department, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
⁶ The Second Clinical Medical College of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence navigation can enhance the visualization of gastric cancer (GC) lesions, increase the lymph node detection rate, and reduce the incidence of anastomotic leakage in the treatment of GC. It thus holds considerable potential for application in GC clinical surgery and has attracted widespread research interest. The purpose of this study was to visualize the current topics and emerging trends in research regarding ICG in GC.

Methods: We searched the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) for articles relevant to the use of ICG in GC. The resulting information was then analyzed from a bibliometric and knowledge graph analysis perspective using CiteSpace, Scimago Graphica, and R Studio so that the key trends and hot spots in research within this field could be identified and visualized.

Results: Ultimately, 1,385 papers from 58 countries or regions published from 1991 to 2022 were included in this study. The largest number of publications were from China, followed by Japan and the United States. High-yield institutions were concentrated in Asian countries, especially China. The top publication contributors were Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Li Y and Bang YJ ranked first among the top 10 most productive authors and top 10 most cocited authors, respectively. World Journal of Gastroenterology was the most productive academic journal on ICG in GC, while Cancer Research was the most commonly cocited journal. The keyword "indocyanine green" was among the top 5 keywords, and will likely remain a popular topic in future research. Furthermore, the emerging themes including surgery, biopsy, lymphadenectomy, dissection, and gastrectomy have attracted increasing attention.

Conclusions: Current research hotspots in this area focus on the clinical implementation of ICG in precision surgery for GC. Given the imaging tracer characteristics of ICG and its utility in GC surgery, the optimization and application of ICG-guided precision surgery techniques for GC will be a research hot spot going forward.

Keywords: CiteSpace; Indocyanine green (ICG); Web of Science (WoS); bibliometric analysis; gastric cancer (GC).