Application Trends and Research Hotspots of Endoscopic Enucleation of the Prostate: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis

Abstract

Purpose: Endoscopic enucleation of the prostate (EEP) is a preferred treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Our bibliometric analysis aims to analyze the application trends and research hotspots of EEP. Methods: We conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection published from 1989 to 2023. The following techniques were examined in the included articles: holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP), thulium laser enucleation of the prostate (ThuLEP), bipolar/monopolartransurethral enucleation of the prostate (b-TUEP/m-TUEP), GreenLight laser enucleation (GreenLEP), and diode laser enucleation (DiLEP). VOSviewer, CiteSpace, the R package ‘bibliometrix’ were used to conduct bibliometric analysis. Results: This analysis of 739 English-language studies showed that there has been a steady increase in EEP-related publications over time. HoLEP was the most commonly studied technique, followed by ThuLEP and b-TUEP. There has been a notable lack of high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining GreenLEP, DiLEP and m-TUEP. China, the United States, and Germany were the countries with the highest numbers of relevant publications. We identified several authors who have made significant contributions to the field. Recent research hotspots include postoperative transient urinary incontinence (TUI) and robot-assisted simple prostatectomy (RASP). Conclusions: EEP is gaining widespread clinical acceptance as a method to treat BPH. Future research should address the lack of high-quality RCTs and focus on reducing the incidence of postoperative TUI. Prospective comparisons between RASP and EEP are essential to optimize surgical approaches for treating BPH.