Comparison of different information content models by using two strategies: development of the best information algorithm for Iliad.
Iliad is a diagnostic expert system for internal medicine. Iliad's "best information" mode is used to determine the most cost-effective findings to pursue next at any stage of a work-up. The "best information" algorithm combines an information content calculation together with a cost factor. The calculations then provide a rank-ordering of the alternative patient findings according to cost-effectiveness. The authors evaluated five information content models under two different strategies. The first, the single-frame strategy, considers findings only within the context of each individual disease frame. The second, the across-frame strategy, considers the information that a single finding could provide across several diseases. The study found that (1) a version of Shannon's information model performed the best under both strategies---this finding confirms the result of a previous independent study, (2) the across-frame strategy was preferred over the single-frame strategy.
Guo
D
D
Department of Medical Informatics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Lincoln
M J
MJ
Haug
P J
PJ
Turner
C W
CW
Warner
H R
HR
D000465:Algorithms; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005103:Expert Systems; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis