ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery
This article is part of the Research TopicRecent Advancements and New Developments in Reconstructive SurgeryView all 14 articles
Clinical application and developmental direction of free flaps in plastic and reconstructive surgery procedures: A bibliometric analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
- 2Shanghai 6th Peoples Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
- 3Shanghai Jiao Tong University Medical School Affiliated Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai, China
- 4First People's Hospital of Yongkang City, yongkang, China
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Owing to advancements in microvascular surgical techniques, the success rate of free flap transplants has significantly improved, making it a preferred method for repairing tissue defects postoperatively in cases involving tumors, trauma, and infections. While numerous clinical studies have explored the use of free flaps in wound reconstruction, comprehensive bibliometric analyses to systematically review their clinical applications and identify emerging research trends are still lacking. To address this, the present study analyzes literature from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database, Pubmed database and Embase database spanning 2004 to 2025. We examined annual publications, global collaborations, research frameworks, and identified emerging research trends and significant keywords. Our analysis reveals that current focal points include the application of free flaps in reconstructive procedures and the burgeoning intersection of computer technology with medical and material research. This insight aims to guide future scholarly inquiries into the utilization of free flaps for plastic and reconstructive surgery procedures.
Keywords: free flap, Plastic surgical procedures, bibliometric analysis, visualization, Global trends
Received: 08 Jul 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yin, Hua, Ye, Xie, Lv, Cai and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Leyi Cai, caileyi@wmu.edu.cn
Haixun Li, ykgk2008@163.com
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