ReviewCureus2026
Rise of Regional Anesthesia in Emergency Medicine: A Bibliometric Analysis of Global Research Trends and Collaborative Networks.
Review in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Regional anesthesia (RA) is increasingly utilized in emergency departments (EDs) as an opioid-sparing strategy for acute pain management. However, the global research landscape, collaboration patterns, and thematic evolution of RA in emergency medicine (EM) remain poorly characterized. This study aimed to map the development of this literature and identify research priorities relevant to anesthesiologists involved in acute pain, trauma care, education, and multidisciplinary emergency services. This bibliometric analysis was conducted using the Scopus records from the database's inception to January 2026. Scopus was selected because it provides broad multidisciplinary journal coverage together with structured citation, affiliation, and author metadata required for bibliometric mapping. A search query focused on "emergency medicine" and "regional anesthesia" was applied. Bibliometric indicators, including annual scientific production, citation patterns, country contributions, journal productivity, co-authorship, co-citation, and keyword co-occurrence, were analyzed using the bibliometrix package version 5.2.1 (Massimo Aria, Federico II University, Naples, Italy) in RStudio version 2024.12.1 (Posit Software, PBC, Boston, MA, USA) through Biblioshiny (the web interface of bibliometrix), and VOSviewer version 1.6.20 (Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University, Netherlands). A total of 232 documents published between 1985 and 2026 across 79 sources were included. The annual growth rate was 4.47%, with a mean citation count of 12.2 per document. Research output increased significantly after 2015. The United States was the leading contributor in both publication volume and total citations (n=1297). The American Journal of Emergency Medicine (AJEM) and the Journal of Emergency Medicine (JEM) were the most productive sources. Brachial plexus block, erector spinae plane block, and fascia iliaca block were the most frequently studied interventions. International co-authorship was relatively low at 9.9%. Research on RA in EM has grown steadily, particularly during the past decade, but remains geographically concentrated and characterized by limited international collaboration. The prominence of ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve and fascial plane blocks reflects sustained scientific attention rather than proof of clinical superiority. For anesthesiology, these trends highlight opportunities to strengthen multidisciplinary training, standardize outcome reporting, and develop multicenter studies that evaluate safety, implementation, and patient-centered outcomes in emergency care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.