Research Trends in Pain Management After Thoracoscopic Surgery (2015-2024): A Bibliometric Analysis

Area of Science:

• Thoracic Surgery
• Pain Medicine
• Anesthesiology

Background:

• Minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery is common.
• Postoperative pain hinders recovery and quality of life.
• A decade of research analysis is needed to map the field.

Purpose of the Study:

• Analyze research on postoperative pain after thoracoscopic surgery (2015-2024).
• Identify research landscape, hotspots, and trends.
• Provide a reference for future studies.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of publications from Web of Science (2015-2024).
• Utilized CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and Bibliometrix.
• Analyzed trends, authors, institutions, countries, and keywords.

Main Results:

• Publication numbers steadily increased from 2015-2024.
• China, US, and Europe are key collaborators.
• Keywords include 'pain', 'rapid recovery', 'analgesia', and regional blocks; themes cover multimodal analgesia and chronic pain.

Conclusions:

• Research evolved from observation to multimodal analgesia and precision medicine.
• Hotspots include optimizing analgesia, pain mechanisms, and rapid recovery.
• Future areas: regional analgesia, liposomal bupivacaine, chronic pain prevention, opioid-sparing, and spontaneous ventilation anesthesia.