Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To explore the current status and future development of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, this field lacks a comprehensive bibliometric analysis. This study aims to investigate the research content and hotspots in PDT for liver cancer from 2012 to 2025, and to predict future research directions, providing references for subsequent studies. METHODS: We chose the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database and retrieved articles published in the field between 2012 and 2025. Bibliometric and visualization analyses were performed using R (version 4.4.1), VOSviewer (version 1.6.19), and CiteSpace (version 6.4. R1). RESULTS: A total of 547 papers were included. We found that the number of publications in this field has steadily increased from 2012 to 2025. China leads with the highest number of publications, followed by the USA, Korea, Germany, and Japan. China has the lowest international co-authorship rate, while Germany and Japan show higher international collaboration rates. The International Journal of Nanomedicine is the most popular journal for publication, whereas Biomaterials ranks first in terms of citations. Our analysis of keywords and the most cited references revealed that current research focuses on the mechanism of PDT-induced apoptosis in HCC, the development of photosensitizers (PSs), nanotechnology-enhanced PDT, and synergistic treatment of HCC with PDT and other therapies. Nanotechnology and multimodal synergistic therapeutic strategies are driving the treatment of HCC. CONCLUSION: PDT, as a therapy for HCC, is expected to become a research hotspot. This paper analyzes PDT's current research for HCC, offering references for future research in related fields.