A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Trends in Mediastinitis: A Rare, High Mortality, and Complex Infectious Disease

Background Mediastinitis is a severe infectious disease with complex etiology and high mortality. Existing research involves multiple disciplines, including thoracic surgery, infectious diseases, and radiology, and the findings are relatively scattered. This study aims to analyze the current state and research hotspots of mediastinitis using bibliometric methods, providing a comprehensive analysis of the development in this field and offering guidance and references for future research in this area.

Methods Publications related to mediastinitis from 2005 to 2024 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and the R package "bibliometrix" were used for visual analysis of countries, authors, and keywords in selected literature.

Results A total of 1,510 articles from 64 countries were included in this study. The publication volume in the field of mediastinitis has stabilized in recent years. Major research hubs include the United States, China, Japan, and Europe. Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery is the most productive journal, while Annals of Thoracic Surgery is the most cited in collaborative research. Research contributions come from 7,478 authors, with Ingemansson R being the most prolific contributor. The most common keyword is "management." Keyword clustering analysis revealed three main research areas: etiology, treatment, and complications. The keyword emergence results indicate that early studies have focused on complications following thoracic surgery. Recent research has shifted its attention to non-surgical sources of infections, chronic types, and their associated complications.

Conclusion Mediastinitis is a rare and critical condition with complexity, and a single diagnosis and treatment approach is often insufficient to address it. A multidisciplinary collaborative management system is of vital importance for improving the prognosis of such patients. Research on mediastinitis shows a clear regional imbalance, and cross-team and international collaboration should be strengthened to promote the development of a systematic body of research in this field. Non-surgical mediastinitis and chronic mediastinitis, especially when combined with chronic diseases such as diabetes, may become the focus of future research.