Systems-Level Support for Hybrid Quantum-Classical Learning: A Systematic Review with a Medical Imaging Translation Lens
Hybrid quantum-classical learning pipelines combine conventional accelerators, quantum runtimes, and quantum processing units (QPUs), creating scheduling, memory, isolation, encoding, and deployment challenges that are not captured by application-level quantum machine learning surveys alone. This paper presents a systematic review of runtime and systems mechanisms for hybrid quantum-classical workloads, with medical imaging used as a translation lens rather than as an exclusive inclusion boundary. Following a PRISMA-aligned review process, we screened 364 records and synthesized 40 studies published between 2020 and 2025. Each study was coded by systems layer, application grounding, noisy-label relevance, and evaluation maturity. The coding shows that the corpus combines direct medical evidence with broader transferable systems evidence: 8 studies directly evaluated medical data, 12 were medically motivated, and 20 were generic systems studies. Across the corpus, the strongest support concerns hybrid orchestration, qubit/resource allocation, classical–quantum data movement, and container-based reproducibility, whereas evidence remains limited for realistic clinical operation, end-to-end remote-QPU workflows, multi-tenant isolation, and noisy-label retraining loops. We contribute an evidence map, a direct/indirect/interpretive evidence distinction, and cross-layer design guidelines for future hybrid quantum-classical imaging pipelines in regulated settings.
Authors
- Nahida Akter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5441-8429)
- Pintu Chandra Paul
- Maqsudur Rahman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4986-1763)
- Amena Begum
- Kashmi Sultana
- Wangjiaxuan Xin
- Anup Majumder
- Xin Jin
- Ze Sheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2092-905X)
- Jun Zhuang
- Mengran Zhu
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte (US)
- Boise State University (US)
- Comilla University (BD)
- Applied Materials (Singapore) (SG)
- Jahangirnagar University (BD)
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Texas A&M University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Imaging
- Published
- 2026-05-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/jimaging12060232
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00