The 100 most cited articles in the endovascular management of intracranial aneurysms

The composition of landmark vein of Galen malformation research: the emergence of endovascular treatments

BACKGROUND

Since the advent of endovascular treatment, the long-term prognosis of vein of Galen malformation (VOGM) has markedly improved; however, the nature of research leading to this point is unclear. The objective of this study was to define the composition of VOGM research to date, by means of a bibliometric analysis of the 100 most cited VOGM articles.

METHODS

An electronic search of Elsevier's Scopus database was performed to identify the 100 most cited articles on VOGM screened against predetermined criteria. Data were then compared.

RESULTS

The 100 most cited VOGM articles were published between 1974 and 2017 in 38 unique journals and originated from 16 unique countries. Mean citation count and rate were 59.4 citations and 2.9 citations/year, respectively. The USA (n = 42); Hôpital de Bicêtre, France (n = 15); and Dr. Pierre Lasjaunias (n = 16) were the largest individual country, institutional, and author contributors. Compared to the older articles (published < 2000), key differences for newer articles were statistically higher citation rates (P < 0.01), more authors (P < 0.01), higher proportion of endovascular treatment descriptions (P = 0.01), and more originating from Asia Pacific (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

From the 100 most cited VOGM articles to date, there has been a noticeable shift from diagnosing VOGM based on the foundational work by Dr. Lasjaunias to understanding how we can model clinical outcomes now that endovascular treatment has become the standard of care. Significant shifts in prognosis are pending, and the current bibliometric data implicate we are on the precipice of more recent works making an impact in the near future.

Clinical trials of neurointervention : 2007-2018

BACKGROUND

ClinicalTrials.gov is one of the largest trials' registries in the world.

OBJECTIVE

To leverage the ClinicalTrials.gov database to define the portfolio of clinical trials of neurointervention.

METHODS

We restricted our extraction to interventional clinical trials submitted between 2007 and 2018, and included MeSH terms that are part of the nervous system (n=19 344) or cardiovascular disease (n=19 234) categories and included a list of neurointerventional terms. The characteristics of trials, geographic distribution, dissemination, and funding sources were explored using descriptive and regression models.

RESULTS

A total of 206 neurointerventional clinical trials across 1691 medical centers were identified. Acute stroke was the most studied conditions (68, 33%), followed by aneurysms (63, 31%), carotid stenosis (48, 24%), intracranial atherosclerotic disease (7, 3.5%), cerebral venous thrombosis (6, 3%), arteriovenous malformation (4, 2%), idiopathic intracranial hypertension (3, 1.5%), and others (6, 3%). Overall, 59 (29%) trials were completed, 79 (37%) were active trials (28% recruiting), and 22 (11%) were terminated or suspended. Academic centers and industry were the most common primary funding source (63% and 29%, respectively), with no funding source reported in 16 (7.7%) trials. Among 77 completed or terminated trials, only 9 (11.7%) trials reported findings within 12 months. Median time to publication for trials funded by academia was 1.66 years (interquartile range (IQR) 0.7-2.1) versus 2.1 years (IQR 1.2-3.25) for industry-funded studies.

CONCLUSIONS

A low dissemination rate for results and a high rate of study non-completion, as well as lack of geographic dispersion of trials appear to be major challenges in the field.

The 100 most cited articles in the endovascular treatment of thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms

OBJECTIVE

Since the introduction of endovascular technology to treat thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms, there has been a global research effort focused on assessing the effectiveness of treatment. A bibliometric analysis is used to identify the scientific impact of an article, impactful authors, institutions, and collaborative groups. Our objective was to identify and to analyze the 100 most cited articles in the field of endovascular treatment of thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective bibliometric analysis in April 2018. Articles were searched on the Science Citation Index Expanded database using Web of Science to identify the most cited articles in endovascular therapy for thoracic and aortic aneurysms since 1945. Use of selected key terms ("AAA," "aortic aneurysm," "thoracic aneurysm," "abdominal aneurysm," "endovascular," "endoluminal," "stent," "graft," "repair," "EVAR," and "TEVAR") yielded a total of 23,354 articles. The top 100 articles were identified and analyzed to extract relevant information including year of publication, citation count, journal, authorship country of origin, and article type.

RESULTS

The earliest articles were published in 1991, with the majority being published in the 2000s (n = 59). The number of citations for the top 100 articles ranged from 151 to 1142, with a median citation count of 212. All articles were cited an average of 22.4 times per year. Almost half (n = 46) of the top 100 articles were published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery. Thirty-nine authors contributed four or more articles, with two being credited on 10 papers to make the list. The majority (n = 62) of the articles arose from the United States, while the United Kingdom contributed 11 articles. There were 7 guidelines and 12 randomized controlled trials, and the majority constituted level III or level IV evidence.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides a comprehensive and informative analysis of the most cited and impactful research undertaken in the field of endovascular treatment of abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms. By quantitatively assessing the 100 most cited articles in the field, we recognize the contributions of key authors, institutions, and collaborative groups and develop an understanding of the strengths of past research and the requirements for future global efforts.

The 100 most cited articles in the endovascular management of acute ischemic stroke

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) has revolutionized the management of acute ischemic stroke. Landmark clinical trials have shown EVT to be one of the most efficacious interventions in clinical medicine over the past 5 years. A method of recognition for an article in the scientific community is to use a citation rank list, in order to identify the seminal works in the academic medical literature. The objective of this study was to characterize the 100 most highly cited articles assessing endovascular management of acute ischemic stroke.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective bibliometric analysis using the Web of Science Citation Index Expanded database for the most cited works in the endovascular management of acute ischemic stroke. Citation count was used to rank the top 100 articles, which were then analyzed for authorship, year of publication, subject, study type, level of evidence, and subject.

RESULTS

The mean number of citations was 245 (range 65-1726) and 394 on Google Scholar. The top 100 articles were cited an average of 43.9 times per year and published in 21 journals in the past two decades. The majority of papers (62) were classified as constituting levels 1, 2, or 3 evidence, and included 17 randomized controlled trials. Approximately two-thirds of the top 100 articles originated from the USA.

CONCLUSIONS

This study details the most cited articles in the endovascular management of acute ischemic stroke, and furthermore shows that a high proportion of level I evidence exists for this intervention.

The 100 most cited articles in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery

Background

The Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery (JNIS) published its first volume in 2009. Over the ensuing years, JNIS flourished and has published a considerable number of high-profile articles. Citation analysis is a method of quantifying various metrics related to scholarly publications.

Objective

To apply citation analysis to the 100 most cited papers in the history of JNIS.

Methods

The most cited articles in JNIS were identified by using the Web of Science database. The top 100 articles were ranked according to their number of citations. Further information was obtained for each article, including citations per year, year of publication, authorship, article topics, and article type and level of evidence.

Results

The total number of citations for the 100 most cited articles in JNIS ranged from 18 to 132 (median 26.0). Most articles (75%) were published between 2012 and 2015 and originated in the USA (79%). Eighteen authors have contributed five or more articles to the top 100 list. The most common topics are related to acute ischemic stroke and cerebral aneurysm.

Conclusions

This study highlights the influence of JNIS over its first decade by providing a comprehensive list of the 100 most cited articles and their authors as well as topics covered. This study also highlights the important factors driving the growth of JNIS.