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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Knowledge mapping of radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma: Bibliometric analysis of the 100 most influential articles

Kai Ren1† ,  Yongqi Ji2† ,  Yusen Wei3 ,  Fan Tang4*
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1 Department of Interventional Therapy, Jiaocheng County Medical Group People’s Hospital, Lüliang, Shanxi, China
2 Department of Interventional Therapy, Caoxian People’s Hospital, Heze, Shandong, China
3 Department of Oncology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China
4 Department of Interventional Therapy, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
†These authors contributed equally to this work.
EJMO, 026140160 https://doi.org/10.36922/EJMO026140160
Received: 4 April 2026 | Revised: 31 May 2026 | Accepted: 2 June 2026 | Published online: 22 June 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Introduction: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a rapidly developing and promising thermal ablation technology for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), providing significant local disease control and survival benefits with a minimally invasive approach.

Objective: To understand the general situation, major contributors, research hotspots, and evolving trends in this field over the past 25 years, this study aims to identify and analyze the 100 most influential original articles concerning RFA for HCC.

Methods: Based on the Web of Science Core Collection database, all available data from the 100 most influential original articles on RFA for HCC published between January 1995 and November 2020 were retrieved and analyzed using bibliometric analysis to create visual knowledge maps.

Results: The 100 most influential original articles in the field of RFA for HCC were identified with 29,487 total citations. A total of 734 authors from 140 institutions in 12 countries contributed to these 100 articles. The United States made the greatest contribution to national cooperation and the number of articles, while Italy contributed the most citations. Sungkyunkwan University contributed the most documents, and Ospedale Generale attained the highest number of total citations among the institutions. Solbiati L published the most documents, and Goldberg SN received the most citations. Radiology was one of the key journals for dissemination of research on this topic. The top 10 keywords according to co-occurrence frequencies were “thermal ablation,” “radiofrequency ablation,” “hepatocellular carcinoma,” “surgical resection,” “ethanol injection,” “therapy,” “cirrhosis,” “survival,” “cancer,” and “recurrence.”

Conclusion: These visual knowledge maps generated through bibliometric analysis of the 100 most influential original articles can help clinicians to comprehensively and intuitively understand the general situation, major contributors, research hotspots, and evolving trends of RFA for HCC.

Keywords
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Radiofrequency ablation
Bibliometrics
VOSviewer
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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Eurasian Journal of Medicine and Oncology, Electronic ISSN: 2587-196X Print ISSN: 2587-2400, Published by AccScience Publishing
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