A comprehensive overview of clinical research on dexmedetomidine in the past 2 decades: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Dexmedetomidine is a potent, highly selective α-2 adrenoceptor agonist with sedative, analgesic, anxiolytic, and opioid-sparing properties. A large number of dexmedetomidine-related publications have sprung out in the last 2 decades. However, no bibliometric analysis for clinical research on dexmedetomidine has been published to analyze hot spots, trends, and frontiers in this field.Methods: The clinical articles and reviews related to dexmedetomidine, published from 2002 to 2021 in the Web of Science Core Collection, were retrieved on 19 May 2022, using relevant search terms. VOSviewer and CiteSpace were used to conduct this bibliometric study.Results: The results showed that a total of 2,299 publications were retrieved from 656 academic journals with 48,549 co-cited references by 2,335 institutions from 65 countries/regions. The United States had the most publications among all the countries (n = 870, 37.8%) and the Harvard University contributed the most among all institutions (n = 57, 2.48%). The most productive academic journal on dexmedetomidine was Pediatric Anesthesia and the first co-cited journal was Anesthesiology. Mika Scheinin is the most productive author and Pratik P Pandharipande is the most co-cited author. Co-cited reference analysis and keyword analysis illustrated hot spots in the dexmedetomidine field including pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, intensive care unit sedation and outcome, pain management and nerve block, and premedication and use in children. The effect of dexmedetomidine sedation on the outcomes of critically ill patients, the analgesic effect of dexmedetomidine, and its organ protective property are the frontiers in future research.Conclusion: This bibliometric analysis provided us with concise information about the development trend and provided an important reference for researchers to guide future research.

Dexmedetomidine ameliorates x-ray-induced myocardial injury via alleviating cardiomyocyte apoptosis and autophagy

“…Furthermore, we found that the protective effect of Dex on X-ray radiation-induced myocardial injury was through inhibiting autophagy. As Dex has been extensively used in clinical practice [ 52 ], our data may extend the possibility of using Dex for radiation-induced myocardial injury.…”

Dexmedetomidine as a total intravenous anesthetic in pediatric patients undergoing cleft lip and palate surgery: a case series

“…This drug has been introduced since 1999, and its effect on the pediatric population has been thoroughly studied. DEX can be used as a sedative agent in the intensive care setting, for procedural sedation, as an adjuvant, and even as a main anesthetic agent to babies and children undergoing surgical procedures [ 23 ]. The literature recommends an intravenous loading dose of 1 μg/kg within 10 minutes, followed by a maintenance dose of 0.7 μg/kg/hour.…”

“…Dexmedetomidine has been studied since 1999, and its use as a sedative agent for diagnostic procedures in intensive care units, as an adjuvant anesthetic, and even in painful procedures such as laryngoscopy has been well documented [ 16 , 18 – 22 ]. In fact, the majority of its studies were focused on the pediatric population [ 23 ]. Dexmedetomidine’s unique features are not comparable to other anesthetic drugs available.…”

Bibliometric analysis of the global research status and trends of mechanotransduction in cancer

“…The keywords were extracted from the keyword section of articles. To avoid potential deviations, similar or same keywords with different expressions were manually standardized to correct and/or group similarities as previously suggested[ 23 - 25 ], before VOSviewer or CiteSpace analysis. Burst keywords were assessed using CiteSpace (V6.2R4 SE) with the following parameters: time slicing (from January 1994 to December 2022), years per slice (1), node type (keyword), the minimum burst duration (1 year), γ (0.39) and others (default).…”