Bibliometric analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma and tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor globally and in China, and its incidence and mortality rate are increasing year by year, and it faces many challenges and difficulties in treatment. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have important roles in cell growth, proliferation, and differentiation, and have now become important drugs for cancer treatment. There are no bibliometric studies on liver cancer and TKIs to date.

METHODS

We retrieved 2848 records from the Web of Science™ Core Collection (WoSCC) database and analyzed them scientifically and metrically using CiteSpace and VOSviewer in terms of temporal and spatial distributions, author distributions, journal distributions, references, and keywords.

RESULTS

From January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2023, the WoSCC database documented 2848 publications related to tyrosinase inhibitors in HCC, comprising 2151 articles and 697 reviews. This literature involved 80 countries and regions, 3265 institutions, and 16,653 authors. Analysis shows a steady increase in publications annually since 2004, divided into 3 phases: 2004 to 2010 with fewer than 100 papers annually, suggesting minimal research attention; 2011 to 2019 with gradual growth, indicating increasing research interest; and a rapid surge post-2020, peaking in 2023, signaling heightened global interest in this field.

CONCLUSION

Our bibliometric analysis on TKIs and HCC spans years, countries, institutions, authors, disciplines, and journals. Since 2004, this field has gained attention, with current research focusing on inflammatory and immune mechanisms, associated diseases, cytokines, and TKIs' applications in liver cancer treatment, including combination therapies. These areas signify emerging research directions.