Medical deep learning—A systematic meta-review

•providing an overview of current deep learning reviews where a medical application plays the key role and arranging the researched works chronologically for a historical common thread and picture over the years.•extracting the overall number of referenced works and citations to give an impression of the research influence and footprints of the respective field.•analyzing, exploring and highlighting the main reasons for the massive research efforts on this topic.•conducting a comprehensive discussion of the current state-of-the-art in the deep learning area with achievements but also failures from other domains that should be avoided and not be repeated in the medical area.•providing a critical expert opinion and pointing out further controversies.