Peer-review started: November 19, 2022
First decision: December 13, 2022
Revised: December 17, 2022
Accepted: February 22, 2023
Article in press: February 22, 2023
Published online: March 9, 2023
Bibliometric analysis can be used to assess the current state of the literature and publication trends on a given topic. There has not been a review of this kind on prostatic artery embolization (PAE) for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). PAE is a relatively new and somewhat controversial treatment option for BPH. Given the novelty and controversy, there has been much research published on the topic recently.
To survey the current state of research on PAE for BPH by using bibliometric analysis to analyze the top 50 most highly cited articles.
A cross-sectional study was performed using the Web of Science database to identify the most cited articles published on PAE for BPH as of June 2022. Articles that did not primarily focus on PAE or BPH as an indication were eliminated. The 50 most cited articles were carried forward for analysis.
All but 6 articles were published in the last decade with contributions from 15 countries. Fifty-two percent of the studies had a C level of evidence. The majority were published in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology and Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology. Twenty percent (n = 10) of the articles were published in urologic journals. On average, articles published in urologic journals tended to be more recent. The mean year of publication for an article in a urological journal was 2016.6 compared to 2013.9 in a non-urologic journal (P = 0.02). Seventy percent of the articles focused on clinical outcomes, while only 2% focused on practice guidelines. Self-citations accounted for 11.4 citations per article on average, corresponding to 14.7% of all citations analyzed.
The most influential papers on this topic represent a fairly recent body of work with contributions from a wide variety of countries and journals. The fact that articles in urologic journals were published significantly more recently than articles on the list in non-urologic journals may suggest that the field of urology is starting to accept PAE for a wider range of indications. Finally, while there has been much high-quality research published, more influential studies on practice guidelines and technique may be beneficial.
Core Tip: Prostatic artery embolization is a technique for treating certain patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia that although controversial is gaining traction. We utilized bibliometric review to investigate the current landscape of the literature on this topic. Based on the publication trends in the most influential papers on this topic it appears that urologists may be starting to recognize the merits of the procedure. Additionally, this procedure has an international appeal with literature being published out of a wide variety of countries in radiology and urology journals alike.