Automated diagnostic system and method including multiple diagnostic modes
First Claim
1. A method of automated medical diagnosis of a patient, the method comprising:
- providing a first medical symptom element, the first medical symptom element having an actual symptom weight for a first disease and an alternative symptom weight for a second disease;
providing a second medical symptom element, the second medical symptom element having an actual symptom weight for the second disease;
applying the actual weight for the first medical symptom element to a first diagnostic score and the alternative weight to a second diagnostic score, wherein the first diagnostic score is associated with the first disease and the second diagnostic score is associated with the second disease; and
continuing diagnostic scoring by applying actual symptom weights for the second disease to the second diagnostic score.
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Abstract
Structure-based processing includes a method of diagnosing diseases that works by arranging diseases, symptoms, and questions into a set of related disease, symptom, and question structures, such as objects or lists, in such a way that the structures can be processed to generate a dialogue with a patient. A structure-based processing system organizes medical knowledge into formal structures and then executes those structures on a structure engine to automatically select the next question. Patient responses to the questions lead to more questions and ultimately to a diagnosis. An object-oriented embodiment includes software objects utilized as active, intelligent agents where each object performs its own tasks and calls upon other objects to perform their tasks at the appropriate time to arrive at a diagnosis. Alternative symptoms, synergies, encoding of patient responses, multiple diagnostic modes, disease profiles or timelines, and the reuse of diagnostic objects enhance the processing of the system and method.
22 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of automated medical diagnosis of a patient, the method comprising:
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providing a first medical symptom element, the first medical symptom element having an actual symptom weight for a first disease and an alternative symptom weight for a second disease;
providing a second medical symptom element, the second medical symptom element having an actual symptom weight for the second disease;
applying the actual weight for the first medical symptom element to a first diagnostic score and the alternative weight to a second diagnostic score, wherein the first diagnostic score is associated with the first disease and the second diagnostic score is associated with the second disease; and
continuing diagnostic scoring by applying actual symptom weights for the second disease to the second diagnostic score. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computerized diagnostic method of a patient, the method comprising:
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a) providing to a computer a list of diseases, each disease associated with a list of symptoms;
b) selecting a one of the symptoms to be a focus symptom based on a predetermined criteria;
c) evaluating the focus symptom to establish the symptom, the established symptom contributing a weight to the diseases having the established symptom;
d) selecting a one of the symptoms to be a focus symptom from the list of symptoms associated with a selected one of the diseases;
e) evaluating the focus symptom to establish the symptom, the established symptom contributing a weight to at least the selected disease having the established symptom; and
f) selectively repeating b) and c) or d) and e) until the accumulated weights for a disease reach or pass a threshold so as to declare a diagnosis. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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14. A computerized method for diagnosing the medical problem of a patient, the method comprising:
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a) providing to a computer a list of diseases, each disease being associated with a list of symptoms;
b) selecting, in a first mode, a subset of diseases having shared symptoms from the list of diseases;
c) evaluating at least one of the shared symptoms;
d) switching from the first mode to a second mode based on the evaluating of the shared symptoms, wherein a particular disease is selected;
e) selecting, in the second mode, symptoms associated with the particular disease;
f) evaluating at least one of the selected symptoms of the particular disease; and
g) diagnosing the medical problem of a patient based on the evaluating of the shared symptoms and the selected symptoms.
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20. A method of automated diagnosis including a computer, comprising:
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asking a patient questions;
receiving answers from the patient;
using the answers to diagnose a disease by selecting a subset of possible diseases based on a chief complaint;
determining a first significant symptom of the patient; and
using the answers to diagnose a disease by asking questions associated with the symptoms of a selected disease, wherein the selected disease includes the first significant symptom.
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Specification