Global Trends of Mechanical Thrombectomy in Acute Ischemic Stroke Over the Past Decade: A Scientometric Analysis Based on WOSCC and GBD Database

Objective: To present a global overview of the current research landscape and emerging trends in mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) over the past decade.

Methods: A thorough search was conducted on the Web of Science on May 20, 2024, focusing on original articles and reviews in English. Bibliometric tools were employed to make a network analysis and visual representation. Additionally, data on disability-adjusted life years, prevalence, and incidence of ischemic strokes were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease database.

Results: A total of 7776 papers were included, indicating a steady increase from 169 to 1311 between 2014 and 2023. The United States led in core publications with 2887 papers. The incidence and disability-adjusted life years of ischemic stroke have continued to rise in Asia but have recently declined in North America and European countries. The University of Calgary emerged as the leading institution and Mayank Goyal was the most prolific author. Neurointerventional Surgery was the top contributing journal with 790 articles. The analysis identified 6332 keywords forming 5 clusters, with "mechanical thrombectomy" serving as the largest cluster, focusing mainly on interventional thrombectomy techniques for AIS. The term "tissue plasminogen activator" exhibited strong burst strength of 46.58. Keywords such as "injury", "diagnosis", "posterior circulation", and "severity" burst in 2020 and lasted until 2024.

Conclusions: Interest in mechanical thrombectomy for AIS was progressively increasing. Future research directions may include minimizing intraoperative injuries, refining diagnostic techniques, investigating interventions for posterior circulation, and tailoring thrombectomy strategies based on stroke severity and large vessel occlusion etiology.