Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40706945›Full record

ArticleJournal of biomedical informatics2025

A scoping review of natural language processing in addressing medically inaccurate information: Errors, misinformation, and hallucination.

Zhaoyi Sun, Wen-Wai Yim, Özlem Uzuner, Fei Xia, Meliha Yetisgen

Abstract readScoping Review
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of biomedical informatics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Zhaoyi SunBiomedical Informatics and Medical Education, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA. Electronic address: zhaoyis@uw.edu.
Wen-Wai YimHealth AI, Microsoft, Redmond, WA, 98052, USA.
Özlem UzunerDepartment of Information Sciences and Technology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA.
Fei XiaDepartment of Linguistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA.
Meliha YetisgenBiomedical Informatics and Medical Education, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA.

Funding

Transform Dissemination and Implementation Science in CTSA ProgramsUL1TR002319 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI John K. Amory · 2017 to 2026
$100.0M
Large scale clinical and economic impact analysis of potentially malignant incidental findings in radiology reportsR01CA248422 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI GUNN, MARTIN, YETISGEN, MELIHA · 2021 to 2024
$2.6M
Leveraging Unlabeled and Pseudo Data for Clinical Information ExtractionR15LM013209 · NLM · GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY · PI UZUNER, OZLEM · 2019 to 2022
$840k
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR002319NCI NIH HHS R01 CA248422NLM NIH HHS R15 LM013209
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThis review aims to explore the potential and challenges of using Natural Language Processing (NLP) to detect, correct, and mitigate medically inaccurate information, including errors, misinformation, and hallucination. By unifying these concepts, the review emphasizes their shared methodological foundations and their distinct implications for healthcare. Our goal is to advance patient safety, improve public health communication, and support the development of more reliable and transparent NLP applications in healthcare.

methodsA scoping review was conducted following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, analyzing studies from 2020 to 2024 across five databases. Studies were selected based on their use of NLP to address medically inaccurate information and were categorized by topic, tasks, document types, datasets, models, and evaluation metrics.

resultsNLP has shown potential in addressing medically inaccurate information on the following tasks: (1) error detection (2) error correction (3) misinformation detection (4) misinformation correction (5) hallucination detection (6) hallucination mitigation. However, challenges remain with data privacy, context dependency, and evaluation standards.

conclusionThis review highlights the advancements in applying NLP to tackle medically inaccurate information while underscoring the need to address persistent challenges. Future efforts should focus on developing real-world datasets, refining contextual methods, and improving hallucination management to ensure reliable and transparent healthcare applications.

Indexed as

CommunicationHallucinationsMedical ErrorsNatural Language ProcessingHumansHallucinationInaccurate informationMedical errorsMisinformationNatural language processingScoping review

Identifiers

PMID40706945
PMCPMC12356652

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.