Deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, is the
formation of blood clots in blood vessels deep within the muscles of
the extremities. Risk groups for DVT are diverse; the incidence of DVT
can be influenced by genetics, comorbidity, and other risk factors
such as the use of oral contraceptives. The papers in our top 20 list reflect
these risk factors, as well as others explored in DVT research over
the past decade. One of the primary studies involving DVT is the
Leiden Thrombophilia Study. Various reports from this study are
included in the top 20; the main finding is that a point mutation in
coagulation factor V coding for response to activated protein C is a
major risk factor for thromboembolic events. The Leiden study and
others have also observed that DVT is more prevalent in women,
possibly due to oral contraceptive use. One paper narrows down this
increased risk in women to use of a specific type of oral
contraceptive. The bulk of the remaining papers in the top 20 compare
the use of low-molecular-weight heparin with that of unfractionated
heparin in the treatment of venous thromboembolism. Rounding out the
top 20 list are papers reporting the occurrence and/or risk of DVT in
patients treated with tamoxifen or raloxifene, hyperhomocysteinemia as
a risk factor for DVT, as well as reviews on reporting standards and
management guidelines.
Methodology
To construct this database,
papers were extracted based on a topic search for Deep Vein
Thrombosis. The keywords used were as follows:
* deep vein
thrombosis
* dvt
The baseline time span for this database
is 1993-2003 (third bimonthly). The resulting database contained 5,696 papers;
15,378 authors; 71 countries; 804 journals; and 3,622 institutions.
Rankings
Once the database was in place,
it was used to generate the lists of top 20 papers, authors, journals,
institutions, and nations, covering a time span of 1993-2003 (third
bimonthly).
The top 20 papers are ranked according to total cites. Rankings for author, journal, institution, and country are listed in three ways: according to total cites, total papers, and total cites/paper. The paper thresholds used to determine scientist, institution, country, and journal rankings according to total cites/paper were as follows:
32, 35, 35, and 41, respectively.
