Abstract
Spinal stenosis is a common disease affecting the elderly that is present in a various forms. Its high incidence forces researchers to pay more attention and offer countermeasures. We used the Web of Science Core collection and PubMed database to obtain 5,606 scientific studies concerning spinal stenosis, and the number of publications maintained a roughly increasing trend from 108 in 2000 to 512 in 2018, only declining in 2011. Bibliometric analysis was conducted using the online analysis software CiteSpace and Bibliographic Item Co-Occurrence Matrix Builder (BICOMB). The United States maintains academic leadership in this field. The journal SPINE was the most authoritative, with 695 articles and an average of 12.73 citations. The exported major MeSH terms were further biclustered with gCLUTO according to co-word analysis to reveal research hotspots, including etiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestation, conservative treatment, operative indication, internal implantation, and postoperative complications. After combination, the main topics focused on pathogenesis and surgical treatment. Narrowing causes flavum ligamentum hypertrophy, and posterior longitudinal ligament ossification is widely accepted. Additionally, minimally invasive surgery and internal implantation fixation are more valid in the clinic. Refining pathological classification and optimizing surgical methods and instrument properties will be important future research directions for spinal stenosis.
Highlights
Spinal stenosis involves pathological symptoms, such as narrowing of the spinal canal and shortening of the canal diameters, compression of the spinal cord, and the presence of neurological disturbance
By dissecting the anatomical structure of the spinal canal, bone hyperplasia and fibrous tissue adaptation are the main risks of spinal stenosis [1, 2]
We used the PubMed database, a biomedical information retrieval system developed by National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) that was relatively complete in medicine
Summary
Spinal stenosis involves pathological symptoms, such as narrowing of the spinal canal and shortening of the canal diameters, compression of the spinal cord, and the presence of neurological disturbance. According to the vertebral segments, narrowing occurs commonly in the cervical and lumbar spine and rarely has a thoracic appearance. An increasing risk of limb dysfunction and urinary and fecal incontinence exists in elderly individuals with spinal stenosis. By dissecting the anatomical structure of the spinal canal, bone hyperplasia and fibrous tissue adaptation are the main risks of spinal stenosis [1, 2]. The local inflammatory microenvironment, calcium maladjustment, and microbial infection contribute to disease development [3]. Measurement of the canal diameter, observation of symptoms, and auxiliary examination with radiologic technology is the gold standard for a definite diagnosis
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