title: Computer-assisted localization of nervous system injuries.
abstract: Expert systems to assist in neurological diagnosis require a representation of anatomical relationships. In order to test one representational method, a prototype expert system was developed. It accepts patient signs of neurological dysfunction and identifies the site of nervous system injury. The system's knowledge base is contained in a semantic network which represents nervous system anatomy and the physical signs of injuries. When provided with an individual's physical signs, the network is searched by a simple algorithm; the anatomical locations which best explain the physical signs are the system's output. Medical expert systems which require anatomical reasoning can use a direct representation of spatial relationships to avoid the difficulties of encoding clinical associations in the form of If-Then rules.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Hertzberg
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005103:Expert Systems; D006801:Humans; D012985:Software Design; D020196:Trauma, Nervous System; D014584:User-Computer Interface