Bibliometric analysis of CT-based atherosclerosis plaque imaging in coronary artery disease: from "gatekeeper" of invasive angiography to "whistleblower" of high-risk patients.

Abstract

Background: Computed tomography (CT)-based coronary atherosclerotic plaque studies have been continuously deepening and evolving, yet systematic trend analysis remains to be implemented. In this study, to explore the dynamic development in this field, we conducted a comprehensive and in-depth bibliometric analysis of CT-based atherosclerosis plaque imaging in coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods: Our data sources were from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC), in which the relevant documents were limited to articles written in English, with no time restrictions. Bibliometric analysis using Bibliometrix and VOSviewer was conducted, including keywords, citations, authors, institutions, countries, and also co-citation analyses of references and sources.

Results: A total of 2,195 publications between 1990 and 2024 were included, comprising 1,970 articles and 225 reviews. The number of publications displayed a strong upward trend. Based on the keywords analysis, the research topics could be sorted into 4 categories (disease, atherosclerotic plaque type, imaging technique, and study orientation) and the evolution of the research could be divided into four stages (initial, slow rise, wavelike rise, and blooming). The co-citation analysis showed that the sources were grouped into cardiovascular-related, metabolism-related, and radiology-related journals. Among 72 countries and 2,339 institutions, the USA ranked first with 1,003 articles and 58,759 citations.

Conclusions: Through bibliometric analysis, we found that coronary atherosclerotic plaque studies have been evolving and are now blooming, with obvious trends and certain flow directions, which helps us to identify the current research challenges, as well as future research directions. The CT plaque imaging enabled coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) to change from the "gatekeeper" of invasive angiography to the "whistleblower" of high-risk patients, meaning that its role has shifted from a selector reliant on coronary angiography to an identifier of patients at high risk of adverse cardiovascular events.