title: Practical use of a free-text computer system in pathology.
abstract: Free-text is a natural and effective means of communication of clinically valuable information in subjects such as morbid anatomy. Due to recent developments in hardware and software, it is becoming possible for a greater number of pathologists and others to consider the computer as a possible means of storing, retrieving and analysing findings which have been expressed in words. This paper describes some experiments which have been carried out in this area; these suggest that computer-held free-text can yield useful and hitherto unavailable information, but that coded input may be required for some applications.
mesh_terms: D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D003201:Computers; D003625:Data Collection; D003710:Demography; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D010338:Pathology, Clinical / Q000379:methods*; D013223:Statistics as Topic