Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis of Ultrasound Imaging in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Based on CiteSpace

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common peripheral nerve disease that is addressed by hand surgery, and it is caused by increased pressure in the carpal tunnel, which compresses the median nerve. Ultrasound can clearly visualize the internal structures of the carpal tunnel and assess the morphology and mobility of the median nerve, which play an important role in the diagnosis of CTS. In this study, CiteSpace (version 6.2 R6) was employed to analyze the academic literature concerning countries, institutions, journals, authors, and keywords to identify the research trends and hotspots of ultrasound in CTS and to identify future research directions. Literature on ultrasound imaging of CTS published between 1998 and June 2025 was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace software was used to analyze countries, institutions, journals, authors, and keywords. The United States had the highest number of publications. Keyword analysis showed that CTS, the median nerve, diagnosis, cross-sectional area reference values, and ultrasound evaluation were the main research focuses. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Austria play important roles in ultrasound research on CTS. Ultrasound evaluation of the median nerve cross-sectional area and mobility is a key direction for the diagnosis of CTS, and current research hotspots focus on shear wave elastography techniques. In addition, we predict that with the advancement of ultrasound blood flow detection technology, assessing blood flow in the median nerve will become an important research direction.