A VOSviewer® and iCite®-based bibliometric study on target-controlled infusions in anaesthesia.

Abstract

Background and aims: The preceding three decades of anaesthetic practice have witnessed rapid technological advancements in digital applications of total intravenous anaesthesia and bispectral index monitoring using target-controlled infusions (TCIs) of intravenous (IV) anaesthetics that suit the unique drug dosing requirements in different clinical contexts. This bibliometric study aimed to explore the current research trends and emerging domains of TCI use through a literature search of existing published articles.

Methods: The PubMed data repository was searched for literature on 26 February 2026 using the keywords "Target controlled infusion" OR TCI OR "Computer controlled infusion" AND "Anesthesia" for the timeline 1995-2026. A dataset of 1305 publications filtered therein were evaluated for visualisation patterns weighted to network and overlay weighted link strength of author keywords using VOSviewer® and citation metrics using iCite®.

Results: The top 10 keywords that co-occurred with the index search keywords were propofol, remifentanil, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, dexmedetomidine, sedation, sevoflurane, bispectral index, remimazolam, and general anesthesia. Authorship analysis in VOSviewer® yielded a total of 5244 authors from 2024 organisations with 14 authors having at least 10 publications. Analysis with the iCite® revealed a total of 26,667 citations altogether for the 1305 articles in the dataset with 460 being the citation count of the maximum cited article.

Conclusion: Bibliometrics reveal distinct research trends of various IV anaesthetics for TCI. Wider clinical utilisation of newly evolved TCI models, integration of artificial intelligence to TCI systems, and closed-loop TCI systems may be newer horizons of knowledge that future research need to elucidate.