The top 100 most-cited publications on contrast-enhanced ultrasound: A bibliometric analysis

Introduction

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is a modality of growing interest because of its improved detection rates when evaluating lesions and better success rates when administering interventions, compared to standard ultrasound. Along with its diagnostic value, the possibilities for therapeutic innovation with CEUS are immense. While there is much discussion of CEUS and its potential applications, there is a scarcity of studies characterizing the current state of CEUS research. Bibliometric analysis, a method of gaining an overview of a body of literature, quantitatively analyzes large amounts of information within publications to reveal trends. This study used bibliometric analysis to characterize the state and nature of the 100 most-cited publications on CEUS.

Methods

We identified the 100 most-cited publications on contrast-enhanced ultrasound using the Scopus database. We recorded various bibliometric data points from these publications, with additional data collected for the 25 most-cited publications. Data were analyzed via R, R studio, and VOSviewer.

Results

Our analysis of the top 100 publications revealed that 38 of the listed first authors were from the United States. Eleven articles were in Radiology, six were in Ultraschall in der Medizin, and six were in Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, with mean citation counts of 269.2, 433.3, and 291.7 per publication, respectively. The University of Virginia Health System produced the most publications in the top 100. Seventeen of the top 25 most-cited articles were clinical practice guidelines. Four of the top five papers were clinical practice guidelines pertaining to hepatocellular carcinoma.

Conclusion

In conclusion, several interesting trends were demonstrated in our bibliometric analysis. The most heavily cited articles from the top 100 were published between 2010 and 2019, which is in contrast to the finding that the previous decade contained more articles published in the top 100. This trend indicates a significant scientific impact from those articles published from 2010 to 2019. The substantial number of articles addressing applications of CEUS in diagnosing and treating liver diseases correlates closely with their global disease burden; therefore, this finding potentially explains the rise in impactful research production within the field. This study is the first to characterize the landscape of CEUS research, and future studies should further this work as the field continues to develop. Thus, our analysis reveals many important findings in the current state of CEUS research and its impact on medical imaging.