title: Consistency enforcement in medical knowledge base construction.
abstract: Some aspects of knowledge base creation can be partially or completely automated, resulting in higher quality and smaller effort. Computer assistance is particularly valuable in ensuring the internal consistency of a knowledge base. The article describes several techniques for consistency enforcement in QMR-KAT, an interactive knowledge base editor for the INTERNIST-I/QMR medical knowledge base. Two strategies that improve consistency are applicable to a wide range of situations. The first strategy prevents simple (but common) inconsistencies. The second strategy reveals facts that are potentially (but not necessarily) inconsistent with known data, and may require further evaluation. Both strategies use the contents of the existing knowledge base in the evaluation of new facts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Giuse
authors.forename: N B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Giuse
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D006801:Humans; D008467:Meckel Diverticulum / Q000175:diagnosis; D008490:Medical Informatics; D012984:Software