Science mapping analysis of computed tomography-derived fractional flow reverse: a bibliometric review from 2012 to 2022

BACKGROUND: Computed tomography-derived fractional flow reserve (CT-FFR) is a non-invasive imagological examination used for diagnosing suspected coronary atherosclerotic heart disease, providing the morphological and functional value on a three-dimensional (3D) coronary artery model. This article aimed to collate the existing knowledge and predict this novel technology’s future research hotspots. METHODS: To collect data, 1,712 articles were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database from 2012–2022. CiteSpace5.8.R3 was used to visually analyze the research status and predict future research hotspots. RESULTS: Firstly, the United States, China, and the Netherlands were identified as the countries having published the most articles about CT-FFR. Jonathan Leipsic’s group ranked first for the highest number of published articles. Secondly, the visualized analysis indicated that the exploration of CT-FFR is multi-disciplinary and involves cardiology, radiology, engineering, and computer science. Thirdly, the hotspots in this field, which were inferred from the keyword distribution and clustering, included the following: “diagnostic performance”, “accuracy”, and the “prognostic value” of CT-FFR, and comparison of CT-FFR and other imaging methods sharing similarities. The research frontiers included technologies utilized to obtain more accurate CT-FFR values, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning. CONCLUSIONS: As the first visualized bibliometric analysis on CT-FFR, this study captured the current accumulated information in this field and offer more insight and guidance for future research.