Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39485651›Full record

ArticleMedical & biological engineering & computing2025

NSSC: a neuro-symbolic AI system for enhancing accuracy of named entity recognition and linking from oncologic clinical notes.

Álvaro García-Barragán, Ahmad Sakor, Maria-Esther Vidal, Ernestina Menasalvas, Juan Cristobal Sanchez Gonzalez, Mariano Provencio, Víctor Robles

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Medical & biological engineering & computing, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–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

9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Neuro-symbolic reasoning engine for tax optimisation.Frontiers in artificial intelligence · 2026
    Article
  8. Large Language Models in Bio-Ontology Research: A Review.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Review
  9. 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

7 authors.

Álvaro García-Barragán *Center of Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus Montegancedo, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223, Madrid, Spain. alvaro.gbarragan@upm.es.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0007-6377-8150
Ahmad Sakor *Data Science Institute, Leibniz University of Hannover, Welfengarten 1, Hannover, 30060, Lower Saxony, Germany. sakor@l3s.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8007-7021
Maria-Esther Vidal *Data Science Institute, Leibniz University of Hannover, Welfengarten 1, Hannover, 30060, Lower Saxony, Germany. vidal@l3s.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1160-8727
Ernestina Menasalvas *Center of Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus Montegancedo, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223, Madrid, Spain. ernestina.menasalvas@upm.es.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5615-6798
Juan Cristobal Sanchez GonzalezOncology, Hospital Puerta de Hierro, Madrid, Spain.
Mariano ProvencioOncology, Hospital Puerta de Hierro, Madrid, Spain.
Víctor Robles *Center of Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus Montegancedo, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223, Madrid, Spain. victor.robles@upm.es.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3937-2269

Funding

HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme 875160Leibniz-Gemeinschaft P99/2020
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Accurate recognition and linking of oncologic entities in clinical notes is essential for extracting insights across cancer research, patient care, clinical decision-making, and treatment optimization. We present the Neuro-Symbolic System for Cancer (NSSC), a hybrid AI framework that integrates neurosymbolic methods with named entity recognition (NER) and entity linking (EL) to transform unstructured clinical notes into structured terms using medical vocabularies, with the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) as a case study. NSSC was evaluated on a dataset of clinical notes from breast cancer patients, demonstrating significant improvements in the accuracy of both entity recognition and linking compared to state-of-the-art models. Specifically, NSSC achieved a 33% improvement over BioFalcon and a 58% improvement over scispaCy. By combining large language models (LLMs) with symbolic reasoning, NSSC improves the recognition and interoperability of oncologic entities, enabling seamless integration with existing biomedical knowledge. This approach marks a significant advancement in extracting meaningful information from clinical narratives, offering promising applications in cancer research and personalized patient care.

Indexed as

Artificial IntelligenceNeoplasmsBreast NeoplasmsElectronic Health RecordsFemaleHumansNatural Language ProcessingNeural Networks, ComputerUnified Medical Language SystemBreast cancerEHRELLLMNERNeuro-symbolic

Identifiers

PMID39485651
PMCPMC11891111

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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 OpenQuestion graph.