Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42259830›Full record

ArticleNature communications2026

A disease-centric vision-language foundation model for precision oncology in kidney cancer.

Yuhui Tao, Zhongwei Zhao, Zilong Wang, Xufang Luo, Feng Chen, Kang Wang, Chuanfu Wu, Xue Zhang, Shaoting Zhang, Jiaxi Yao and 10 more

Abstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. 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

20 authors.

Yuhui Tao *Digital Medical Research Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6119-2769
Zhongwei Zhao *Department of Urology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
Zilong Wang *Microsoft Research Asia, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6760-1471
Xufang Luo *Microsoft Research Asia, Shanghai, China.
Feng Chen *Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Kang WangDigital Medical Research Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7878-308X
Chuanfu WuCenter of Health data science, Linyi People's Hospital, Shandong, China.
Xue ZhangDepartment of Radiology, the First People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang, China.
Shaoting ZhangDepartment of Radiology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China.
Jiaxi YaoDepartment of Urology, Zhangye People's Hospital affiliated to Hexi University, Zhangye, China.
Xingwei JinDepartment of Urology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Xinyang JiangMicrosoft Research Asia, Shanghai, China.
Yifan YangMicrosoft Research Asia, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5481-2851
Dongsheng LiMicrosoft Research Asia, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3103-8442
Lili QiuMicrosoft Research Asia, Shanghai, China.
Zhiqiang ShaoDepartment of Urology, Linyi People's Hospital, Shandong, China. shaozq2005@163.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0959-3474
Jianming GuoDepartment of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. guo.jianming@zs-hospital.sh.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9300-8401
Nengwang YuDepartment of Urology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China. qiluyunengwang@hotmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3488-2270
Ying XiongDepartment of Urology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. xiong.ying@zs-hospital.sh.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0349-5403
Shuo WangDigital Medical Research Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. shuowang10@fudan.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2947-8783

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 81974393
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The non-invasive assessment of renal masses remains a critical challenge in urologic oncology, where diagnostic uncertainty frequently causes overtreatment. Here, we develop RenalCLIP, a vision-language foundation model for precision oncology in kidney cancer. Utilizing 27,866 computed tomography scans from 8809 patients across diverse multi-center cohorts, we employ a two-stage pre-training strategy to align domain-specific visual and textual representations. RenalCLIP achieves enhanced performance and generalizability across ten core clinical tasks, spanning anatomical assessment, diagnostic classification, and survival prediction, significantly outperforming state-of-the-art general-purpose foundation models. Furthermore, RenalCLIP demonstrates strong data efficiency in diagnostic classification, achieving peak baseline performance using only 20% of the training data. The model also exhibits robust zero-shot diagnostic capabilities, effective image-text retrieval, and high-quality medical report generation. Our findings establish RenalCLIP as a powerful, generalizable tool to enhance diagnostic precision, refine prognostic stratification, and personalize the management of renal masses.

Indexed as

Kidney NeoplasmsMedical OncologyPrecision MedicineHumansPrognosisTomography, X-Ray Computed

Identifiers

PMID42259830
PMCPMC13402594

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

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.