Global Research Trends in Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Bibliometric and Visualized Study

Revision total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a longstanding area of research interest in orthopedics due to its increasing global demand and associated technical challenges. The present study aims to analyze and present the current state of research and trends in this active field.

Articles on revision TKA published from inception to 2018 were retrieved from Web of Science. Bibliometric analysis was conducted using the metadata of the included articles. Visualized analysis was conducted using VOSviewer software to reveal global trends in revision TKA research, through analyses of bibliographic coupling, co-authorship, co-citation and co-occurrence.

A total of 6027 articles were included. The number of publications and relative research interest in the field of revision TKA displayed strong upward growth over the time period examined. The USA had the highest number of citations for publications in this field, as well as the highest H-index. Studies in the field could be categorized into five clusters: prosthesis design, periprosthetic fracture, periprosthetic joint infection, risk factors for revision TKA, and survivorship of implants. Studies focused on infection and risk factors for revision TKA are likely to become the most popular research topics in the field.

Global trends over the past few years suggest that the field of revision TKA research will continue to grow and lead to increasing rates of publication output over the coming years. Future developments in the field will likely include more preventative and etiological studies relating to revision TKA.