Early screening of Pancreatic Cancer: A Bibliometric Study Over the Past Two Decades

Background and objectives: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a highly malignant tumor of the digestive system with a poor prognosis. The early diagnosis and accurate screening of PC in high-risk populations are warranted to improve the prognosis of patients. The present study aimed to evaluate the global research characteristics, hotspots, and future trends of the early screening of PC. Methods: A comprehensive search of studies on early screening of PC in the Web of Science core database was performed between 1 January 2003 and 28 December 2022. The information, which included the study population, authorship, journal, contributing institution, country of origin, and keywords, were collected. The Excel, VOSviewer, and Citespace software were used for the bibliometric analytical processing and visualization. Results: A total of 581 publications were included and analyzed after the screening. For the past 20 years, the annual number of publications exhibited a fluctuating rising trend. The United States contributed more than 40% of the publications. Ralph H. Hruban was the most cited scholar. Pancreas ( n = 35), World Journal of Gastroenterology ( n = 24), and Pancreatology ( n = 18) were the top three journals with the highest number of publications. Keywords related to liquid biopsies, such as “extracellular vesicle”, “dna”, and “circulating tumor cell”, continued to burst until 2022. Conclusions: Over the past two decades, this area has been gradually gaining attention, with the number of publications rising annually. Liquid biopsy will be the future research trend. These present findings will provide the latest insight into the state of PC early screening, identifying new perspectives for further research.