TRENDS IN UNICOMPARTMENTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Literature Analysis

Background:

• Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) is a surgical procedure for knee osteoarthritis.
• Understanding publication trends provides insight into research focus and advancements in UKA.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the historical and current trends in scientific publications concerning unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA).
• To identify key themes and publication types within the UKA research landscape.

Main Methods:

• A web-based bibliometric analysis of publications related to UKA was conducted.
• Data were sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge from 1980 to January 2019.
• Publications were categorized by decade and subject matter, including research articles, reviews, and case reports.

Main Results:

• A total of 1,658 publications were analyzed.
• The most frequent keywords in titles were 'outcome' (260 publications) and 'biomechanics and kinematics' (99 publications).
• The majority of publications occurred in the last decade, with a focus on postoperative follow-up and results.

Conclusions:

• Publication output on UKA has significantly increased, particularly in the last decade.
• Future trends indicate a rise in specialized publications driven by technological advancements such as patient-specific instrumentation, navigation, and robotic surgery.
• The field is evolving towards more specific and technologically advanced research areas.