Objectives Perioperative care for oesophageal cancer (OC) patients is crucial in optimising surgical outcomes and improving recovery. This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis to explore the frontier trends in perioperative care for OC patients. Methods Publications from 1997 to 2024 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. The bibliometric analysis utilised VOSviewer, CiteSpace and the R package ‘bibliometrix’ to visualise collaborations, keyword co-occurrences and emerging research trends. Results A total of 816 publications were identified, with an annual growth rate of 9%. The United States led in publication volume (206, 25%), followed by Japan (173, 21%) and China (128, 16%). University of Amsterdam emerged as the most prolific institution, contributing significantly to the field in publications (68). Hofstetter Wayne stood out with publications and citations of 16 and 1751. The Diseases of the Esophagus and Annals of Surgery were the top-ranked journal, with the highest publications (68) and citations (2041). The co-occurrence network revealed four major clusters, including epidemiology, chemoradiation therapy, surgical therapy and complications. Keyword burst analysis emphasised terms such as ‘postoperative complications’, ‘multicenter’ and ‘open label’. Conclusions This bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the research developments in perioperative care for OC patients. It highlighted key trends and emerging research frontiers, including perioperative fluid management in OC patients. Future trends emphasise open-label clinical trials and the development of multimodal treatment strategies to improve survival outcomes. These findings offer valuable insights for advancing clinical and scientific progress in the field.
Ye et al. (Thu,) studied this question.