Bibliometric mapping of research trends and publication growth in cancer sonodynamic therapy from 2001 to 2025

BACKGROUND: Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is increasingly investigated for cancer treatment. This study aimed to characterize the knowledge structure, thematic evolution, and publication trajectory of cancer SDT research. METHODS: English-language articles and reviews published from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2025, were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) on January 16, 2026. CiteSpace 6.4.R1 and VOSviewer 1.6.20 were used for collaboration, co-occurrence, co-citation, and burst analyses. Candidate Poisson log-link models with zero, one, or two changepoints were compared using the Akaike information criterion and Bayesian information criterion (BIC), with BIC as the principal selection criterion. Negative-binomial models and exclusion of 2025 were used for sensitivity analyses. RESULTS: A total of 1,053 publications were included. China had the highest publication count (819) and total citation count (36,281), whereas Israel had the highest citations per publication (110.17) among the ten most productive countries. The Chinese Academy of Sciences had the highest institutional publication count (104), with 10,691 citations and 102.80 citations per publication. Among the most prolific authors, Chen Yu had the highest publication count (40), whereas Liu Zhuang had the highest citations per publication (162.26). The primary Poisson model identified one changepoint after 2020, separating 2001-2020 from 2021-2025. Mean annual publication output was 11.0 during 2001-2020 and 166.8 during 2021-2025. Earlier research focused mainly on sonosensitizers and ultrasound-related mechanisms, whereas more recent work increasingly emphasized nanomaterial-assisted delivery, the tumor microenvironment, immunotherapy, oxidative stress, regulated cell death, and multimodal treatment CONCLUSION: Cancer SDT research entered a substantially higher-output phase after 2020. In terms of research content, more recent work expanded beyond conventional sonosensitizers and ultrasound-related mechanisms to include nanomaterial-assisted delivery, tumor microenvironment modulation, immune regulation, and regulated cell death.