Global trends and hotspots in robot-assisted arthroplasty: a CiteSpace-based bibliometric and visualized analysis

With the increasing integration of robotic technology into medical practice, robotic-assisted arthroplasty (RAA) has emerged as a significant research focus. This study employs CiteSpace, a bibliometric analysis tool, to systematically examine the current state and future directions of RAA research on a global scale. By retrieving relevant literature from the Web of Science Core Collection database spanning from 1997 to 2024, a total of 229 articles were identified for analysis. The findings indicate a steady rise in the number of publications within this field. China, the United States, and South Korea are the leading contributors, with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital being the most prolific institution. Keyword clustering analysis reveals that key research areas include total hip arthroplasty, Markov decision analysis, total knee arthroplasty, robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty, diverse assistive techniques, patient-reported outcome differences, robot-assisted total hip arthroplasty, and learning curves. Emerging trends are primarily centered around system development, navigation technologies, manual implantation methods, functional outcomes, and ossification processes.