Mapping intellectual structures and research hotspots of chronic wound in global perspective.

BACKGROUND

Chronic wounds included but were not limited to diabetes foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers and pressure ulcers. The challenge of difficult healing placed a heavy burden on patients and society. Our objective was to explain the healing process of chronic wounds and the development of treatment technologies in the past few years and to provide relevant, valuable information.

METHODS

Our scientific publications were retrieved from the core collection of the Web of Science (WoSCC) database collection. The bibliometric visualization and analysis were performed by the software Biblioshiny based on R-bibliometrix. VOSviewer software and Citespace software were responsible for the validation of the results.

RESULTS

A total of 8129 articles related to wound healing in chronic wounds were retrieved. The countries, institutions, and journals with the highest number of publications were the USA, the N8 research partnership, and the Journal of Wound Care, respectively. Armstrong DG and Dumville JC were the most influential authors in this field. The keyword analysis showed two key clusters of keywords, including "dressings" and "management". Trend topics analysis revealed frequent keywords in recent years, including "nanofibers" and "injectable hydrogels".

CONCLUSION

Our research was the first to reveal the cellular and molecular mechanisms and key clinical management strategies in the healing process of chronic wounds in the future through metrological and systematic evaluation, which may have important translational value in the future.