Benchmarking VMA/VMT
What does analysis of the last five years of the literature on vitreomacular traction/ adhesion tell us about the priorities of the field and the major contributors to it?
Vitreomacular adhesion (VMA) occurs when the vitreous of the eye adheres to the retina in an atypically strong manner. Usually, the vitreous separates from the retina as part of the normal aging process, but if this separation is not complete – that is, there is still an adhesion – this can create pulling forces on the retina that may result in visual distortion, or even loss. The adhesion may not be dangerous in itself, but the resulting pathological vitreomacular traction (VMT) can cause severe ocular damage. The current standard of care for treating these adhesions is pars plana vitrectomy, but an alternative, an injectable protease called ocriplasmin, has been available for the treatment of VMT since 2013.
To provide insight into the past and predictions for the future of the field, a series of metrics were applied to the last five years of the published literature. We asked: What are the major topics for the field? Which publications have the greatest impact? How is the knowledge available online? Who are the most prolific authors? Has the clinical development of ocriplasmin altered what is published over time?
PubMed was searched for: vitreomacular AND (traction OR adhesion), with results limited to the last five years, in humans (for a clinical focus). The data were analyzed in Microsoft Excel 2013
Articles in MEDLINE are indexed by Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) topics, that describe the articles’ main topics. Here are the top 25 MeSH terms over the last five years of the human VMA/VMT literature
I spent seven years as a medical writer, writing primary and review manuscripts, congress presentations and marketing materials for numerous – and mostly German – pharmaceutical companies. Prior to my adventures in medical communications, I was a Wellcome Trust PhD student at the University of Edinburgh.
