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Methods Inf Med 1994; 33(05): 522-529
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1635055
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH

MEDUSA: A Fuzzy Expert System for Medical Diagnosis of Acute Abdominal Pain

M. Fathi-Torbaghan
1   Department of Computer Science, University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
,
D. Meyer
1   Department of Computer Science, University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
› Author Affiliations
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Publication History

Publication Date:
12 February 2018 (online)

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Abstract:

Even today, the diagnosis of acute abdominal pain represents a serious clinical problem. The medical knowledge in this field is characterized by uncertainty, imprecision and vagueness. This situation lends itself especially to be solved by the application of fuzzy logic. A fuzzy logic-based expert system for diagnostic decision support is presented (MEDUSA). The representation and application of uncertain and imprecise knowledge is realized by fuzzy sets and fuzzy relations. The hybrid concept of the system enables the integration of rulebased, heuristic and casebased reasoning on the basis of imprecise information. The central idea of the integration is to use casebased reasoning for the management of special cases, and rulebased reasoning for the representation of normal cases. The heuristic principle is ideally suited for making uncertain, hypothetical inferences on the basis of fuzzy data and fuzzy relations.

Keywords:

Acute Abdominal Pain - Decision Support - Fuzzy Logic - Hybrid Expert Systems
 

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