A bibliometric and visualization analysis of global research on vestibular schwannoma

Vestibular schwannoma is the most common benign tumor in the pontocerebellar horn region. As the tumor grows, it often causes severe hearing loss due to compression of nearby nerves, resulting in a lower quality of life. This study examined vestibular schwannoma-related research through a bibliometric and visualization analysis, and it explored current trends and research hot spots.

Research related to vestibular schwannoma published from 2002 to 2021 was searched using the Web of Science Core Collection. The processing and visualization analysis of the data were conducted using R software, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace.

A total of 3,909 publications were included in this study, and an overall increasing trend in the annual output of publications was found. The United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom were the most prolific countries, publishing the most articles. Germany had the most frequent international cooperation and the highest centrality score. The Mayo Clinic, University of California, and Harvard University were the three most productive institutions. Otology & Neurotology was the most prolific journal, and MJ Link was the most productive and highest scoring author for centrality. Current frontier topics mainly focused on "hearing preservation" and "radiosurgery". A map of trends in topics and a thematic graph revealed that "hearing loss", "vertigo", "magnetic resonance imaging", "radiosurgery", "stereotactic radiosurgery", and "gamma knife" were the topics of focus of current discussions.

Hearing preservation is a current frontier topic in this area. Radiosurgery has a promising future in the field of vestibular schwannoma, and stereotactic radiosurgery is a focus of global attention. Bibliometric and visualization analysis offer a unique and objective perspective of the field of vestibular schwannoma and may assist scholars in the identification of new research directions.