A roadmap for medical large language models: a review of foundations, applications, and challenges

Yu-Yang Sha; Li Yu; Ze-Hui Lin; Amandeep Kaur; Yan-Yan Lou; Shivanand S Gornale; Tian-Yu Zhang; Ling Shing Wong; Zhi-Wen Wang; Yan Yan; Xian-Bin Zhang; Rui Hong; Ka Li; Sio Kei Im; Paulo de Carvalho; Tao Tan; Ke-Feng Li

doi:10.1016/j.mmr.2026.100050

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

A roadmap for medical large language models: a review of foundations, applications, and challenges

REVIEW | Updated：2026-08-21

Previous|Next

- A roadmap for medical large language models: a review of foundations, applications, and challenges
- “Med-LLMs show promise in clinical tasks like decision support and telemedicine, but reliability and safety concerns persist. This review examines their applications, challenges, and future directions, emphasizing that real clinical value requires evidence-based integration into workflows rather than benchmark performance alone.”
- Yu-Yang Sha , Li Yu , Ze-Hui Lin , Amandeep Kaur , Yan-Yan Lou , Shivanand S Gornale , Tian-Yu Zhang , Ling Shing Wong , Zhi-Wen Wang , Yan Yan , Xian-Bin Zhang , Rui Hong , Ka Li , Sio Kei Im , Paulo de Carvalho , Tao Tan , Ke-Feng Li
- Military Medical Research (2026)
- Affiliations：
  Faculty of Applied Sciences, Macao Polytechnic University, Macau 999078, Macao SAR, China
  Department of Oncology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China
  Department of Computer Science and Technology, School of Engineering and Technology, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab 151401, India
  Division of Hematology and Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA
  Department of Computer Science, School of Mathematics and Computing Sciences, Rani Channamma University, Belagavi, Karnataka 590016, India
  Department of Radiology, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam 1066 CX, the Netherlands
  Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, INTI International University, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan 71800, Malaysia
  School of Nursing, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
  Guangdong-Hong-Kong-Macao University Joint Laboratory of Interventional Medicine, the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai 519000, Guangdong, China
  Department of General Surgery and Institute of Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Digestive System Tumors, Carson International Cancer Center, Shenzhen University General Hospital, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China
  Medicine and Engineering Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory of Nursing and Materials, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
  Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
  Informatics Engineering Department, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Coimbra, 3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal
- Author bio：
  *Paulo de Carvalho, carvalho@dei.uc.pt;
  Tao Tan, taotan@mpu.edu.mo;
  Ke-Feng Li, kefengl@mpu.edu.mo
- Funds：
- DOI： 10.1016/j.mmr.2026.100050
  CLC：
- Accepted：23 June 2026 ，
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
DOI：
DOI：

AI Introduction
Full Text(HTML)
Figs( 3 ) Tabs( 4 )
References
Publication Info
Metrics

25

Views

10

Downloads

0

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

BibTeXDownload
EndnoteDownload
RefMan Download
NoteExpressDownload
NoteFirstDownload

Publicity Resources

A roadmap for medical large language models: a review of foundations, applications, and challenges

DOI： 10.1016/j.mmr.2026.100050

AI Introduction

Full Text(HTML)

Figs( 3 ) Tabs( 4 )

References

Publication Info

Metrics

摘要

Abstract

关键词

Keywords

references