Clinical applications of continual learning machine learning
Open accessAbstract
With advances in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in machine learning and deep learning, the potential uses for AI in medicine are growing. Continual learning, also known as lifelong learning or online machine learning, is a fundamental idea in machine learning in which models continuously learn and evolve based on the input of increasing amounts of data, while retaining previously learned knowledge.1 This dynamic process of supervised learning allows the model to incrementally learn and autonomously change its behaviour, while not forgetting the original task.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Systematic errors might also be reduced through continual learning, whereby an ML-based system is continuously updated through new data while retaining previously learned knowledge.
“Systematic errors might also be reduced through continual learning11, whereby an ML-based system is continuously updated through new data while retaining previously learned knowledge12.”
From Mitigating bias in machine learning for medicine (2021) · cites this paper as [12]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
McClelland, J. L., McNaughton, B. L., & O'Reilly, R. C. (1995) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.102.3.419 · Cited by 5,256 · see citing works
Catastrophic Interference in Connectionist Networks: The Sequential Learning Problem
McCloskey, M., & Cohen, N. J. (1989) · Psychology of Learning and Motivation · doi:10.1016/s0079-7421(08)60536-8 · Cited by 3,770 · see citing works
Continual lifelong learning with neural networks: A review
Parisi, G. I., Kemker, R., Part, J. L., Kanan, C., & Wermter, S. (2019) · Neural Networks · doi:10.1016/j.neunet.2019.01.012 · Cited by 3,117 · see citing works
Clinically applicable deep learning for diagnosis and referral in retinal disease
De Fauw, J., Ledsam, J. R., Romera-Paredes, B., Nikolov, S., Tomasev, N., Blackwell, S., Askham, H., Glorot, X., O’Donoghue, B., Visentin, D., et al. (2018) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-018-0107-6 · Cited by 2,639 · see citing works
Abràmoff, M. D., Lavin, P. T., Birch, M., Shah, N., & Folk, J. C. (2018) · npj Digital Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41746-018-0040-6 · Cited by 1,638 · see citing works
Neuroscience-Inspired Artificial Intelligence
Hassabis, D., Kumaran, D., Summerfield, C., & Botvinick, M. (2017) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2017.06.011 · Cited by 1,557 · see citing works
The use of machine learning algorithms in recommender systems: a systematic review
Portugal, I., Alencar, P., & Cowan, D. (2018) · Expert Systems with Applications · doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2017.12.020 · Cited by 743 · see citing works
Deep Learning Is Effective for Classifying Normal versus Age-Related Macular Degeneration OCT Images
Lee, C. S., Baughman, D. M., & Lee, A. (2017) · Ophthalmology Retina · doi:10.1016/j.oret.2016.12.009 · Cited by 659 · see citing works
Self-citationMachine Learning Approaches for Automated Lesion Detection in Microwave Breast Imaging Clinical Data
Rana, S. P., Dey, M., Tiberi, G., Sani, L., Vispa, A., Raspa, G., Duranti, M., Ghavami, M., & Dudley, S. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-46974-3 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Personalized Medication Dosing Using Volatile Data Streams.
Ghassemi, M., Alhanai, T., Westover, M. B., et al. (2018) · National Conference on Artificial Intelligence · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Rajpurkar, P., Chen, E., Banerjee, O., & Topol, E. J. (2022) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01614-0 · Cited by 3,212 · see citing works
Liu, X., Cruz Rivera, S., Moher, D., Calvert, M. J., Denniston, A. K., The SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI Working Group, SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI Steering Group, Chan, A.-W., Darzi, A., Holmes, C., et al. (2020) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-020-1034-x · Cited by 1,421 · see citing works
Self-citationCruz Rivera, S., Liu, X., Chan, A.-W., Denniston, A. K., Calvert, M. J., The SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI Working Group, SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI Steering Group, Darzi, A., Holmes, C., Yau, C., et al. (2020) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-020-1037-7 · Cited by 748 · see citing works
“The group noted that, while of interest, this field is relatively early in its development without tangible examples in healthcare applications, and that it would not be appropriate for it to be addressed by SPIRIT-AI at this stage 49 .”
Self-citationLiu, X., Rivera, S. C., Moher, D., Calvert, M. J., & Denniston, A. K. (2020) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.m3164 · Cited by 702 · see citing works
Three types of incremental learning
van de Ven, G. M., Tuytelaars, T., & Tolias, A. S. (2022) · Nature Machine Intelligence · doi:10.1038/s42256-022-00568-3 · Cited by 665 · see citing works
Lekadir, K., Frangi, A. F., Porras, A. R., Glocker, B., Cintas, C., Langlotz, C. P., Weicken, E., Asselbergs, F. W., Prior, F., Collins, G. S., et al. (2025) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj-2024-081554 · Cited by 957 · see citing works
Liu, X., Cruz Rivera, S., Moher, D., Calvert, M. J., Denniston, A. K., Ashrafian, H., Beam, A. L., Chan, A.-W., Collins, G. S., Deeks, A. D. J., et al. (2020) · The Lancet Digital Health · doi:10.1016/s2589-7500(20)30218-1 · Cited by 555 · see citing works
Self-citationCruz Rivera, S., Liu, X., Chan, A.-W., Denniston, A. K., Calvert, M. J., Ashrafian, H., Beam, A. L., Collins, G. S., Darzi, A., Deeks, J. J., et al. (2020) · The Lancet Digital Health · doi:10.1016/s2589-7500(20)30219-3 · Cited by 486 · see citing works
Self-citationRivera, S. C., Liu, X., Chan, A.-W., Denniston, A. K., & Calvert, M. J. (2020) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.m3210 · Cited by 463 · see citing works
Feng, J., Phillips, R. V., Malenica, I., Bishara, A., Hubbard, A. E., Celi, L. A., & Pirracchio, R. (2022) · npj Digital Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41746-022-00611-y · Cited by 423 · see citing works
Mitigating bias in machine learning for medicine
Vokinger, K. N., Feuerriegel, S., & Kesselheim, A. S. (2021) · Communications Medicine · doi:10.1038/s43856-021-00028-w · Cited by 269 · see citing works
A time-resolved proteomic and prognostic map of COVID-19
Demichev, V., Tober-Lau, P., Lemke, O., Nazarenko, T., Thibeault, C., Whitwell, H., Röhl, A., Freiwald, A., Szyrwiel, L., Ludwig, D., et al. (2021) · Cell Systems · doi:10.1016/j.cels.2021.05.005 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
van de Sande, D., Van Genderen, M. E., Smit, J. M., Huiskens, J., Visser, J. J., Veen, R. E. R., van Unen, E., BA, O. H., Gommers, D., & Bommel, J. V. (2022) · BMJ Health & Care Informatics · doi:10.1136/bmjhci-2021-100495 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
González-Gonzalo, C., Thee, E. F., Klaver, C. C. W., Lee, A. Y., Schlingemann, R. O., Tufail, A., Verbraak, F., & Sánchez, C. I. (2022) · Progress in Retinal and Eye Research · doi:10.1016/j.preteyeres.2021.101034 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Self-citationContinual learning in medical devices: FDA's action plan and beyond
Vokinger, K. N., Feuerriegel, S., & Kesselheim, A. S. (2021) · The Lancet Digital Health · doi:10.1016/s2589-7500(21)00076-5 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Detecting and Remediating Harmful Data Shifts for the Responsible Deployment of Clinical AI Models
Subasri, V., Krishnan, A., Kore, A., Dhalla, A., Pandya, D., Wang, B., Malkin, D., Razak, F., Verma, A. A., Goldenberg, A., et al. (2025) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.13685 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
The use of AI in mental health services to support decision-making: scoping review
Auf, H., Svedberg, P., Nygren, J., Nair, M., & Lundgren, L. E. (2025) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/63548 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Fischer, A., Rietveld, A., Teunissen, P., Hoogendoorn, M., & Bakker, P. (2023) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2023-076017 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.”
InfluentialContinual learning of longitudinal health records
Armstrong, J., & Clifton, D. A. (2022) · 2022 IEEE-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI) · doi:10.1109/bhi56158.2022.9926878 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Algorithmic bias, generalist models, and clinical medicine
Keeling, G. (2024) · AI and Ethics · doi:10.1007/s43681-023-00329-x · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lee, C. S., & Lee, A. Y.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lee, Aaron Y
- Venue
- The Lancet Digital Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-06
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- e279-e281
- ISSN
- 2589-7500 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8259323
- OpenAlex
- W3031989616
- Cited by
- 254
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 13
- FWCI
- 12.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Lancet Digital Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health National Eye Institute (K23EY029246, R01AG060942)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Health Informatics › Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Machine Learning in Healthcare
- Keywords
- continual learning, lifelong learning, online machine learning, clinical application, incremental learning, artificial intelligence in healthcare
- MeSH terms
- Machine Learning, Data Management, Delivery of Health Care, Humans, Pattern Recognition, Automated
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review