Application trends and research hotspots of endoscopic enucleation of the prostate: a bibliometric and visualization analysis.

Abstract

Purpose: Endoscopic enucleation of the prostate (EEP) is a preferred treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). This bibliometric analysis aims to analyze the application trends and research hotspots of EEP.

Methods: We conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection from 1989 to 2023. The techniques examined include holmium laser enucleation (HoLEP), thulium laser enucleation (ThuLEP/ThuFLEP), bipolar/monopolar transurethral enucleation (b-TUEP/m-TUEP), GreenLight laser enucleation (GreenLEP), and diode laser enucleation (DiLEP). We utilized VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and the R package 'bibliometrix' for the analysis.

Results: A total of 739 English-language studies were analyzed, revealing a steady increase in EEP-related publications. HoLEP was the most extensively studied technique, followed by ThuLEP and b-TUEP, while ThuFLEP gaining emerging interest. There has been a notable lack of high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for GreenLEP, DiLEP and m-TUEP. China, the United States, and Germany led in publication volume and collaboration networks. Key contributors in the field were identified, with recent research focusing on topics like postoperative transient urinary incontinence (TUI) and the role of robot-assisted simple prostatectomy (RASP) in comparison to EEP.

Conclusions: EEP is gaining widespread clinical acceptance for BPH treatment. Future research should focus on addressing the gap in high-quality RCTs, especially for underexplored techniques like GreenLEP, DiLEP and m-TUEP, and explore strategies to reduce postoperative TUI. Prospective comparisons between RASP and EEP will be crucial for optimizing surgical approaches in BPH management.