Normothermic Regional Perfusion in Organ Transplantation: Trends, Key Topics, and Evolving Research Focus.

OBJECTIVES

Normothermic regional perfusion is an emerging technique used to reduce warm ischemic injury during organ recovery in donation after circulatory death. The use of normothermic regional perfusion has become increasingly common as a method to improve the viability and function of organs, particularly for liver, kidney, heart, and lung transplantation. In this study, we performed a bib-liometric analysis of normothermic regional perfusion-related research to understand publication trends, key topics, and areas of focus in the field.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

On July 8, 2025, we conducted a comprehensive search using the Web of Science database to identify relevant studies on normothermic regional perfusion. The analysis included 372 studies published between 2014 and 2025. We used VOSviewer and Microsoft Excel to analyze annual trends, countries, institutions, journals, co-occurring key words, and articles. We performed manual screening to refine data on authors and institutions with significant publication and citation frequencies.

RESULTS

Analyses of the 372 studies revealed a 22.35% annual growth rate in publication volume and a cumulative citation count of 7552. The United States led in publication output with 146 total documents, and the United Kingdom recorded the highest citation count at 2914 citations. The top 5 key words were "outcomes" (79 occurrences), "donors" (63 occurrences), "pre-servation" (56 occurrences), "liver transplantation" (55 occurrences), and "experience" (51 occurrences). Recent discussions focused on "outcomes," "experience," and "heart transplantation," and earlier research emphasized "kidney transplantation," "delayed graft function," and "biliary complications."

CONCLUSIONS

The present bibliometric analysis emphasized the growing interest in normothermic regional perfusion, highlighting its evolving focus from kidney and liver related complications to heart transplantation, offering valuable insights for optimi-zing future organ transplant practices.