Treatments for prolonged disorder of consciousness in recent five years: a visualized analysis / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo investigate the current landscape and hotspots on researches about treatment of prolonged disorder of consciousness (pDOC) in the recent five years, and forecast the trends. MethodsLiterature about treatment of pDOC was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database, from January 1st, 2019, to June 7th, 2023. The data were analyzed with CiteSpace 5.8.R3 to create knowledge maps for authors, countries, institutions, keywords, references, co-cited authors and co-cited literature. ResultsA total of 411 articles were included. Aurore Thibaut was the most influential author, Belgium was the most influential country, and Harvard Medical School was the institution with the most publications. The researches focused on neuromodulation, prognostic assessment and care, and management of swallowing function. The neuromodulation techniques mainly included transcranial direct current stimulation, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, deep brain stimulation and transcutaneous auricular vague nerve stimulation. In the coming years, the researches trended to explore neuromodulation and mechanisms of consciousness recovery, and the main neuromodulation techniques might be deep brain stimulation and transcutaneous auricular vague nerve stimulation. ConclusionThe researches about treatment of pDOC are increasing, mainly focusing on neuromodulation, prognostic evaluation, nursing care, and training for swallowing function. More researches would focus on neuromodulation and mechanisms for restoring consciousness.