Mikhail Valivach. Development of Medical Expert Systems



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Projects of Mikhail Valivach Links Russian Version



Development of Medical Expert Systems “Consilium” and “Yumix”

Project goal: to create an expert system helping a general practitioner to “consult” one's patients in the field of rheumatology, endocrinology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, and skin diseases.



“Consilium” Medical Expert System
1998—2004


The expert system is intended to be used for diagnosis of chronic diseases. It covers most frequent diseases in rheumatology, endocrinology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, and skin diseases. Algorithms of diagnoses are described using logical formulas of Boolean algebra. Symptoms of diseases include physical data, laboratory tests, x-ray, etc. Software authors used as criteria descriptions of diseases in
eMedicine, Merck manual and GPnotebook.



The system “Consilium” has been created (1998—2004) as an evolving expert system that includes all the tools necessary for development: a language for description of events, collection of information during the process of diagnosis, statistical processing of information the results of which can be used for further description. A specialized language developed based on
Boolean algebra allows satisfactory description of disease syndromes using patient parameters, numerical data of tests. The expert system contains more than 2000 symptoms and algorithms of more than 1500 diseases.

This system was developed by a programmer Alexander Gaskov and myself. I was the author of the idea of this expert system. I was also searching for diagnostic criteria of diseases and then described them in the terms of Boolean algebra, applied ideas of the shortest ways of diagnostic search. I also was the first doctor making trials of the system in situations of practical diagnosis.
 
As a result, the expert system had been used for practical diagnostic purposes in the Pavlodar Center for Immunology from 2002 to 2008. At present “Consilium” is used by the Russian State Medical Universities in educational purposes.
 


“Yumix” Medical Expert System (2005—2015)
2005—2015

After several years of practical use, the next step was to create an expert system of medical diagnosis more convenient for the practical diagnosis than mentioned above “Consilium”. 
Medical Expert System
 
Probable diagnoses are provided with detailed information on the disease that is useful for doctors to make final diagnostic decisions.
 
In that cases when confirmation of a diagnosis requires laboratory and other tests, the system suggests the list of these tests.
 
Finally the user obtains the patient description in a required form, list of probable diagnoses, and recommended additional test. This text is converted in Word format and can be edited and printed.
 
German programmer Alexander Baum has developed the code of the second expert system. I have developed medical algorithms, orders of data input and diagnostic search.

Expert System of Medical Diagnosis “Yumix”
 
The Expert System of Medical Diagnosis “Yumix” is still being developed and improved. It is used in practice of doctors of the Pavlodar Regional Diagnostic Center. The main advantage of the system is that unlike doctors it does not “miss” diagnoses. The main disadvantage preventing its large scale practical application is time taking. In different diagnostic situations it can take from 15 to 90 minutes to find a diagnosis that is 2-3 times longer than the time required for a real skilled doctor. At present we are searching for ideas how to make data input shorter. 

Expert System of Medical Diagnosis “Yumix”

 
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Medicine expert system, software development, computer diagnosis, healthcare, programing, automation, doctors, medical expert system algorithms, Kazakhstan, Russia.