×

Decision-support application and system for medical differential-diagnosis and treatment using a question-answering system

  • US 10,515,073 B2
  • Filed: 09/26/2017
  • Issued: 12/24/2019
  • Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2010
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
Patent Images

1. A method comprising:

  • receiving, by a decision-support system for medical diagnosis and treatment, patient case information regarding a patient, said decision-support system comprising a computerized device that has access to evidence sources containing medical domain knowledge;

    analyzing, by said decision-support system, said patient case information to identify semantic concepts by recognizing phrases in said patient case information logically related to medical concepts;

    generating, by said decision-support system, a query by automatically supplying said semantic concepts to blank slots in a query template to generate said query, said query comprising a medical question;

    generating, by said decision-support system, answers to said query by applying natural language processing techniques to match said query to passages of said medical domain knowledge within said evidence sources, said evidence sources comprising information in unstructured form;

    calculating, by said decision-support system, numerical values of evidence dimensions for each of said answers by assigning different numerical values to each of said answers based on the correctness of each of said answers for different semantic concepts;

    calculating, by said decision-support system, corresponding confidence values for said answers by combining said numerical values of said evidence dimensions as calculated for said answer;

    outputting, concurrently by said decision-support system to a decision-maker for said patient, said answers, said numerical values of said evidence dimensions for each of said answers, said corresponding confidence values for said answers, and at least one automatically generated link to said evidence sources for each of said answers so that said answers, said numerical values of said evidence dimensions for each of said answers, said corresponding confidence values for said answers, and said evidence sources for each of said answers are usable by said decision-maker to make a decision regarding said patient;

    storing, by said decision-support system in a tangible repository, said answers, said numerical values of said evidence dimensions for each of said answers, and said corresponding confidence values for said answers;

    in response to new medical domain knowledge being added to said evidence sources, automatically repeating, by said decision-support system, said generating of said answers to said query, said calculating of said numerical values of said evidence dimensions for each of said answers and said calculating of said corresponding confidence values for said answers in order to determine whether previously generated answers and corresponding confidence values stored in said tangible repository would change based on said new medical domain knowledge; and

    ,automatically sending, by said decision-support system, an alert to said decision-maker based on a change occurring in any of said previously generated answers and corresponding confidence values, said alert being usable by said decision-maker to re-evaluate said decision.

View all claims
  • 1 Assignment
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×