A Comprehensive Survey on Federated Learning in the Healthcare Area: Concept and Applications

Abstract

Federated learning is an innovative machine learning technique that deals with centralized data storage issues while maintaining privacy and security. It involves constructing machine learning models using datasets spread across several data centers, including medical facilities, clinical research facilities, Internet of Things devices, and even mobile devices. The main goal of federated learning is to improve robust models that benefit from the collective knowledge of these disparate datasets without centralizing sensitive information, reducing the risk of data loss, privacy breaches, or data exposure. The application of federated learning in the healthcare industry holds significant promise due to the wealth of data generated from various sources, such as patient records, medical imaging, wearable devices, and clinical research surveys. This research conducts a systematic evaluation and highlights essential issues for the selection and implementation of federated learning approaches in healthcare. It evaluates the effectiveness of federated learning strategies in the field of healthcare. It offers a systematic analysis of federated learning in the healthcare domain, encompassing the evaluation metrics employed. In addition, this study highlights the increasing interest in federated learning applications in healthcare among scholars and provides foundations for further studies.