Current status, hotspots, and trends in cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation: A bibliometric analysis

Decades of clinical and fundamental research advancements in oncology have led to significant breakthroughs such as early screening, targeted therapies, and immunotherapy, contributing to reduced mortality rates in cancer patients. Despite these achievements, cancer continues to be a major public health challenge. This study employs bibliometric techniques to visually analyze the English literature on cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

We systematically reviewed publications from 01 March 2014, to 01 March 2024, indexed in the Web of Science core collection. Tools such as VOSviewer Version 1.6.20 is characterized by its core idea of co-occurrence clustering. CiteSpace 6.3.R3 is distinguished by its powerful capabilities in bibliometric analysis, including co-citation analysis, co-occurrence analysis of keywords, author collaboration network analysis, and journal co-citation analysis, providing effective insights into research hotspots and detecting emerging trends. Bibliometrix version 3.0.3 offers rich visualization features, including collaboration network diagrams, citation distribution graphs, and keyword clouds. facilitated the analysis of the literature, helping to map out the current research landscape, identify pressing issues, and discern emerging trends, thus offering insights for future research directions.

The analysis revealed that major research hotspots include lung and breast cancer. Attention is predominantly concentrated on cancer treatment, subdivided into targeted therapy, immunotherapy, traditional Chinese medicine, and the development of new anticancer drugs. Significant terms identified in the study include immune checkpoint inhibitors, tumor microenvironment, and cancer stem cells.

This bibliometric analysis highlights the evolving directions in oncology research, pinpointing nanotherapy, resistance to targeted therapies, and the integration of artificial intelligence as pivotal future research avenues in the prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of cancer.