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The 50 most-cited clinical articles in cartilage surgery research: a bibliometric analysis

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Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

Articular cartilage lesions remain a challenge for orthopedic surgeons. The identification of the most important articles can help identifying the most influential techniques of the past, the current prevalent focus, and emerging strategies. The aim of this study was to identify milestones and trends in cartilage research.

Methods

This study is a bibliometric analysis based on published articles. All citation count data included in the “Scopus database” were used to identify eligible studies up to December 2020. The 50 most-cited articles on cartilage surgery were ranked based on the citation count and analyzed regarding citation density and quality (Coleman score and RoB 2.0 tool). A further search was performed to identify the most promising clinical studies among the latest publications on cartilage surgery.

Results

Different kinds of cartilage treatments were investigated in the 50 most-cited clinical articles. Regenerative techniques with chondrocytes were the most reported with a total of 23 articles, followed by microfracture technique in 17 articles and mosaicplasty or osteochondral autograft transplantation (OAT) in 11. Forty-five articles focused on the knee. A higher citation density was found in the most recent articles (p = 0.004). The study of the most promising landmarks of the most recent articles showed new cell-free or tissue engineering-based procedures and an overall increasing quality of the published studies.

Conclusion

This bibliometric analysis documented an increasing interest in cartilage surgery, with efforts toward high-quality studies. Over the years, the focus switched from reconstructive toward regenerative techniques, with emerging options including cell-free and tissue-engineering strategies to restore the cartilage surface.

Level of evidence

IV.

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  1. Marco Franceschini and Angelo Boffa have equally contributed to this article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinica Ortopedica e Traumatologica 2, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy

    Marco Franceschini, Angelo Boffa, Luca Andriolo, Alessandro Di Martino & Stefano Zaffagnini

  2. Applied and Translational Research (ATR) Center, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy

    Giuseppe Filardo

  3. Service of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Department of Surgery, EOC, Lugano, Switzerland

    Giuseppe Filardo

  4. Facoltà Di Scienze Biomediche, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland

    Giuseppe Filardo

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SZ reports non-fnancial support from personal fees from I+SRL, grants from Grants from FidiaFarmaceutici S.p.A., Cartiheal Ltd, IGEA clinical biophysics, BIOMET, and Kensey Nash, outside the submitted work. The funders had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. The other authors declare no confict of interest.

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Franceschini, M., Boffa, A., Andriolo, L. et al. The 50 most-cited clinical articles in cartilage surgery research: a bibliometric analysis. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 30, 1901–1914 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-021-06834-y

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