Medical eponyms: Ambiguity in search terms and the failure of contemporary databases

The inconsistent application of medical eponyms poses notable challenges to effective information retrieval. Despite guidelines from international health organizations and journal policies advocating for non-possessive terminology, the scientific literature remains divided on this issue. The use of genitive apostrophes adds complexity to search procedures and introduces ongoing linguistic obstacles that may compromise the accuracy of clinical and academic data collection. Database analyses – including Web of Science, PubMed, Espacenet and the Lens – demonstrate considerable discrepancies in eponym record counts, illustrating how term specificity can result in the omission of essential records and intellectual property documentation. This review critically examines the difficulties encountered in keyword and structured table searches and provides an overview of how advancements in artificial intelligence and semantic search technologies may address these limitations.