title: Software and expert system for the management of chronic hepatitis B.
abstract: Whereas the doubling time of overall biomedical knowledge bases has been estimated at about 19 years, the body of indexed information related to HBV has doubled in the last 8 years; the one related to HBV and antivirals has doubled in the last 5 years and the one related to Interferon and contraindications has doubled in less than 48 months. In Hepatology, as well as in other fast changing areas of medicine, the demand that clinical decision should always be based on the best verified knowledge available, is becoming more and more difficult to comply with. The Italian network of competence for hepatic diseases (Liver Unit Networks Association or LUNA) was established in 2003 with the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Health, with the primary goal of promoting advanced clinical research and real-time information exchange among the participating centres, facilitating knowledge sharing and identification of best practices. The ICT infrastructure designed for this purpose includes four sets of online accessible software tools:
authors.affiliation: Direzione Scientifica, Fondazione IRCCS, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Mangiagalli e Regina Elena, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Neirotti
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oliveri
authors.forename: Maurizia R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Brunetto
authors.forename: Ferruccio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bonino
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005103:Expert Systems; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012984:Software; D012986:Software Validation
chemical_list: D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines