Knowledge domains and hotspots in corticosteroid use for cardiac surgery: a 23-Year bibliometric and visualized analysis

BACKGROUND: The safety and efficacy of prophylactic corticosteroid administration during the perioperative period of cardiac surgery have undergone extensive and comprehensive examination. In this study, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications addressing corticosteroid use in the perioperative period of cardiac surgery, aiming to elucidate the principal research trajectories and emerging trends spanning the past 23 years. METHODS: We performed a search in the Web of Science Core Collection for publications related to the application of corticosteroids during the perioperative period of cardiac surgery, spanning from the year 2000 to October 30, 2023. Bibliometric analysis was conducted employing the biblioshiny package in R, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace. RESULTS: We identified 293 eligible publications concerning corticosteroid use during the perioperative period of cardiac surgery. Publication volume increased significantly in 2001 and 2014. Keyword co-occurrence analysis revealed four primary clusters: cardiopulmonary bypass, systemic inflammatory response, methylprednisolone, and dysfunction. Over recent decades, research focus has shifted from examining how prophylactic corticosteroid use attenuates postoperative inflammation to investigating its potential effects on clinical complications following cardiac surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Considerable heterogeneity in inflammatory response phenotypes among individuals may lead to significant differences in the clinical effectiveness of prophylactic corticosteroid interventions. Thus, developing personalized treatment strategies should become a major focus in future research.