Hyperbaric oxygen therapy research: an analysis of the 100 most-cited publications from 2011 to 2020.

Objective: Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) is used in several clinical and research fields. This study aimed to analyze the 100 most-cited hyperbaric-related publications of the past 10 years to understand the trends in HBO2 research. Methods: This was a literature review. All publication and citation data were retrieved from the Scopus database. Publications with "hyperbaric oxygen," "hyperbaric oxygenation," "HBO," and "HBOT" in the title, abstract, or keywords published between January 01, 2011, and December 31, 2020, were enrolled. The 100 most-cited HBO2-focused publications were identified, and their publication title, authors' nationality, publication journal, year, type (original or review), and application field were recorded and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Linear regression was used to evaluate the trends in publication numbers. Results: A total of 6,517 publications were enrolled. The annual rate of increase was 4.56 per year (p-value = 0.13, 95% CI: -1.62 to 10.74). The total, average, median and mode of citations were 67,726, 10.4, 4, and 0, respectively. The 100 most-cited HBO2-focused publications accounted for 1.5% (100/6,517) of all publications and 8.1% (5509/67,726) of the total number of times cited. The most-cited publications originated from 17 countries and were published in 65 journals, led by the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Conclusions: The annual number of HBO2 publications was stationary. The citation numbers showed a skewed distribution. The United States was the leading country in HBO2 research. Of 26 application fields, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and diabetic foot were the leading three fields.

Top-cited articles on hyperbaric oxygen therapy published from 2000 to 2010.

OBJECTIVE: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO2T) is a specialty with wide clinical applications and study fields. An evaluation of the major research direction of HBO2T studies would be helpful for researchers in this field. In this study, we identified the most frequently cited HBO2T articles to analyze the study focus of HBO2T research in the past 10 years. METHODS: "Hyperbaric oxygen" was used as the keyword to search articles in PubMed between January 2000 and November 2010. The cited times of an article were tracked in Google Scholar. The top 100 most-cited articles were identified and their publication year, author nationalities, journal, study field and style were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: In total, 2,362 HBO2T-related articles were retrieved. The number of HBO2T articles published per year has been increasing during the past 10 years. More than half of the top-cited articles (52/100) were from studies in the United States. Studies focusing on stroke (20), radiation injury (11), carbon monoxide (10), and wounds (9) accounted for 50% of the top-cited articles. CONCLUSION: HBO2T has been a field of increasing scientific publications in the past 10 years. The focus of research fields were stroke, radiation injury, carbon monoxide and wounds. The United States maintains an important influence on HBO2T studies.

Tension pneumocephalus: a rare complication after hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

The study aimed to describe a patient with multiple skull bone fractures and a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak who received hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). A 40-year-old man presented with subdural hemorrhage, skull bone fractures, facial bone fractures, sinus fractures, and CSF leakage after a one-story fall. He received HBOT as an adjunctive treatment to reduce brain edema and increase oxygen availability in brain tissue. Tension pneumocephalus developed after HBOT. Bur hole drainage was performed emergently to relieve the tension pneumocephalus. Cranioplasty and repair of skull base fracture were subsequently performed. The patient was discharged in a vegetative state. We proposed a possible mechanism by which tension pneumocephalus developed after HBOT sessions in this patient. Pneumocephalus, untreated skull base fracture, and CSF leakage should be considered contraindications to HBOT.