Interdisciplinary Neurosurgery (Mar 2021)
The 100 most cited papers about medulloblastomas
Abstract
Background: A large number of published articlesexists, centered on pediatric and adult medulloblastomas. Objective: To accomplish a systematic review and meta-analysis concerningmedulloblastoma, focusing on the clinical features, diagnostic and currenttreatment modalities, as well as prognostic factors. Methods: In March 2020, we performed a title- focused search using Thomson Reuters Web of Science database in order to identify the most cited articles centered on adult and pediatric medulloblastomas. Results: Our search resulted in 4.779 articles, published from 1975 until March 2020. All of them combined have been cited 118,703 times, with an average citation per item of 24.84. The most cited article was published by Pomeroy SL, et al. in 2002 in Nature Journal, whereas the least cited one was published by Huang E., et al, in 2002. Conclusions: The aim of the study is, via the presentation of the 100 most cited papers focused on medulloblastoma, to describe their relevant contribution regarding advances in therapeutic prospects, prognosis, molecular characteristics andreconsideration of treatment protocols.We describe how, and to what degree, the treatment guidelines and management of this tumor have changed from 1975 to 2020. We reviewrecent advances in cancer genomics which have revealed 4 distinct subgroups of medulloblastomas, as well asthe importance of molecular biology on the development of new treatment features. We aim not only to answer the question: WHAT were the most cited publications, but also to approach the question of WHY the most-cited sources were so.