Ultrasonography in the intensive care unit: a bibliometrics analysis

Background: Ultrasonography is widely used in critical care practice. The status of related studies remains unclear. The purpose of this study is to analyze current literature investigating the use of ultrasound in critical care units by using bibliometric analysis. Methods: The Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) database was used for data retrieval. The search formula for literature retrieval was “ultrasound” OR “ultrasonography” AND “intensive care unit” OR “critical care unit” OR “intensive care” OR “critical care”. The bibliometric software package of R software was used to analyze the results. Information of related literatures were analyzed. Results: Finally, 3,715 articles were included. The number of published articles and the number of references increased annually. The research fields included medical imaging, critical care medicine, cardiology, etc. The United States has published more documents in this field than other countries and has shown the highest rate of cooperation with other countries. Among the top 10 research institutions with the largest number of publications, 5 are from France and 3 are from the United States. There are many authors from China in the top 10 published studies. Among the top 10 journals with the largest number of published articles, 5 journals are top journals in the field of critical care medicine. Among the top 10 keywords, there are 5 of ultrasound specialty and 2 of critical care medicine. Conclusions: Researches on the use of ultrasound in critical care units are mainly concentrated in several developed countries in Europe and the United States. Chinese research institutions should perform more studies in this field and increase cooperation with institutions from other countries.