Dural Sealants in Spine Surgery: A Scientometric Analysis.

This research aims to systematically and comprehensively evaluate the publication, citation, collaboration, and evolution of topics in dural sealants for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage in spine surgery publications. The study systematically mined publications from the Web of Science in January 2023 using the keywords (dural sealant) AND (cerebrospinal fluid) AND (spine surgery). No exclusion criteria were used in the search. The analysis was divided into publication, citation, collaboration, and text-co-occurrence network analysis. R Studio and VOSviewer were used for data management, analysis, and visualization. A total of 56 documents published between 2002 and 2022 were analyzed. The countries with the most publications were the United States of America (39.62%), Italy (9.43%), and Japan (9.43%). Total citations for all publications were 859, with an overall H-index of 15. Institutions from South Korea, India, China, and the United States of America were found to have previous collaborations on the topic. In addition, neurosurgery publications had four clusters of co-occurring keywords, which include (i) neurological deficit, polyethylene glycol, efficacy, and safety; (ii) dural defect, prevention, CSF leak; (iii) postoperative CSF leak and dural tear; and (iv) prolene, fibrin sealant, and watertight closure. In terms of evolution, publications focused initially on the types of sealants but are currently focusing more on the effects of these sealants on different outcomes. This study provided an overview of the scientific output, trends, and research topics in dural sealant for CSF leakage for spine surgery publications worldwide. More research is still needed using varied designs and more subjects on this topic. Results may serve as a valuable guide for researchers, practitioners, and educators to find the future direction of the research agenda and projects about using dural sealant to prevent CSF leak in spine surgeries.