Bibliometric and visual analysis of research hotspots and development trends of hepatocellular carcinoma in the elderly

LI Yijun; ZHAO Haixia; YUAN Xiaojie; WANG Yuemei; XU Linli; SHAO Zhongjun; ZHANG Weilu

doi:10.13276/j.issn.2097-1656.2025.09.015

Abstract：Objective To analyze the current status of research on hepatocellular carcinoma in the elderly,and to explore the development trends and research hotspots in this field.Methods Based on the Web of Science Core Collection database of studies on hepatocellular carcinoma in the elderly from 1980 to 2022,the bibliometric and visualization analyses of annual distribution,source journals,countries,research institutions,authors,co-citations,and keywords were performed by CiteSpace and VOSviewer.Results A total of 10 471 papers were included,and the number of published papers showed an increasing trend year by year,with Japan being the most prolific country,followed by the United States and China.Hepato-Gastroenterology had the highest number of published papers,and Hepatology had the highest citation frequency.Institutions with high publication volume were mainly concentrated in the United States,France,and China,with the University of California System having the largest number of published papers and its centrality ranking second.Most of the active authors were from Japan and Taiwan,China,LU S N published the most articles,and LLOVET J M was the most frequently co-cited author.References were clustered into nine categories,and those with high citation frequencies were published in high-quality journals such as Hepatology and Lancet.Keyword analysis showed"sorafenib","transarterial chemoembolization","double-blind","hepatocellular carcinoma",and"multichannel"were the research hotspots in this field.Conclusion This study provides a comprehensive overview of hepatocellular carcinoma in the elderly using bibliometric analysis to provide clues for disease diagnosis and therapeutic approaches in this field,revealing the combination of immunotherapy and anti-angiogenic drugs as a new strategy for treatment.