Hot topics in endothelial keratoplasty research and future research directions

Objective

To investigate the distribution of literature and hot topics of endothelial keratoplasty (EK) in recent years.

Methods

Using the Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Science Citation Index in Web of Science Core Collection database as the data sources, the literature on EK from 2011 to 2021 was collected and the annual volume of published original research articles on EK, the top 10 authors and journals with the highest number of published articles, and the top 10 cited articles were analyzed.The author and keyword data of the collected relevant literature were imported into VOSviewer software for visual analysis.

Results

A total of 1 454 articles were included.The cumulative volume of articles increased linearly from 2011 to 2021, the United States was the country that published the most EK-related literature, with Melles GRJ ranking first in terms of the highest number of published articles and the highest number of citations, and Cornea ranking first in terms of the total number of publications.Hot topics of EK mainly focused on the comparison of postoperative effects of different procedures and the management of complications.Keywords were grouped into 5 clusters, the evaluation of the postoperative visual quality of EK, the high-risk factors for postoperative complications and transplantation failure, the indications and surgical techniques of Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK), corneal graft issues including graft preparation, endothelial cell loss and management of graft dislocation, and the changing trend of corneal transplantation.The most frequently occurring keyword was DMEK, with a total of 559 occurrences, indicating that DMEK was the focus of EK-related research.Since 2017, the frequency of keywords such as DMEK, previous trabeculectomy, graft preparation, stability, safety, and air has increased, suggesting that the treatment of patients with a history of glaucoma surgery, the safety and stability of surgery, and the preparation of big-bubble graft had been the focus of research in recent years.

Conclusions

Graft preparation, the management of complicated cases, the treatment of glaucoma in patients with corneal endothelial diseases and the evaluation of the long-term postoperative effects of big-bubble graft preparation may become the future EK research direction.

Corneal transplantation; Endothelium, corneal; Data visualization; Bibliometrics