Method for diagnosing a disease
First Claim
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1. A method to diagnose lung cancer in a medical patient, the method comprising:
- providing a measurement device operable to measure conductivity between a first reference point and a first interrogation point on the body of said patient;
measuring the conductivity, between said first reference point and said first interrogation point, to obtain a first data-set as a function of time and over a period of time; and
comparing at least one attribute value obtained from said first data-set to a previously determined corresponding attribute threshold in a table look-up operation to determine if said patient has lung cancer, whereinsaid measurement device is structured and arranged to provide computer control of contact pressure between a measurement electrode tip and the surface of said body at an interrogation point, and probe contact pressure is increased until the conductivity index shows a zero slope, at which point probe contact pressure remains substantially constant during a period of time, and further comprising;
measuring the conductivity, between said first reference point and a first plurality of interrogation points, to obtain a first plurality of data-sets, each such data-set comprising conductivity values as a function of time and over a period of time;
comparing a plurality of point-attribute values obtained from said first plurality of data-sets to corresponding previously determined attribute thresholds in a table look-up operation to determine if said patient has lung cancer;
measuring the conductivity, between a second reference point and a second plurality of interrogation points, to obtain a second plurality of data-sets, each such data-set comprising conductivity values as a function of time and over a period of time; and
comparing a plurality of point-attribute values obtained from said second plurality of data-sets to corresponding previously determined attribute thresholds in a table look-up operation to determine if said patient has lung cancer, wherein;
the sum of said first plurality of interrogation points and said second plurality of interrogation points populate at least three point-attributes for use in said comparing step.
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Abstract
A method to determine presence of a disease condition in a medical patient by evaluating conductivity information. Point-attributes values obtained from highly accurate conductivity data-sets taken as a function of time, over a period of time, are compared to previously determined threshold values. Z-scores may be determined to combine a plurality of point-attribute values in formulation of a composite score for a patient. Sometimes, z-scores are weighted by overall accuracy of the point-attribute in predicting presence of the disease.
31 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method to diagnose lung cancer in a medical patient, the method comprising:
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providing a measurement device operable to measure conductivity between a first reference point and a first interrogation point on the body of said patient; measuring the conductivity, between said first reference point and said first interrogation point, to obtain a first data-set as a function of time and over a period of time; and comparing at least one attribute value obtained from said first data-set to a previously determined corresponding attribute threshold in a table look-up operation to determine if said patient has lung cancer, wherein said measurement device is structured and arranged to provide computer control of contact pressure between a measurement electrode tip and the surface of said body at an interrogation point, and probe contact pressure is increased until the conductivity index shows a zero slope, at which point probe contact pressure remains substantially constant during a period of time, and further comprising; measuring the conductivity, between said first reference point and a first plurality of interrogation points, to obtain a first plurality of data-sets, each such data-set comprising conductivity values as a function of time and over a period of time; comparing a plurality of point-attribute values obtained from said first plurality of data-sets to corresponding previously determined attribute thresholds in a table look-up operation to determine if said patient has lung cancer; measuring the conductivity, between a second reference point and a second plurality of interrogation points, to obtain a second plurality of data-sets, each such data-set comprising conductivity values as a function of time and over a period of time; and comparing a plurality of point-attribute values obtained from said second plurality of data-sets to corresponding previously determined attribute thresholds in a table look-up operation to determine if said patient has lung cancer, wherein; the sum of said first plurality of interrogation points and said second plurality of interrogation points populate at least three point-attributes for use in said comparing step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method to diagnose lung cancer in a medical patient, the method comprising:
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providing a measurement device operable to measure conductivity between a first reference point and a first interrogation point on the body of said patient; measuring the conductivity, between said first reference point and said first interrogation point, to obtain a first data-set as a function of time and over a period of time; and comparing at least one attribute value obtained from said first data-set to a previously determined corresponding attribute threshold in a table look-up operation to determine if said patient has lung cancer, wherein; said measurement device is structured and arranged to provide computer control of contact pressure between a measurement electrode tip and the surface of said body at an interrogation point, and probe contact pressure is increased until the conductivity index shows a zero slope, at which point probe contact pressure remains substantially constant during a period of time, and the method further comprising; measuring the conductivity, between said first reference point and a first plurality of interrogation points, to obtain a first plurality of data-sets, each such data-set comprising conductivity values as a function of time and over a period of time; and comparing a plurality of point-attribute values obtained from said first plurality of data-sets to corresponding previously determined attribute thresholds in a table look-up operation to determine if said patient has lung cancer; and developing a composite score for a patient by converting a portion of obtained point-attribute values to corresponding z-scores, and combining said z-scores. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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7. A method to determine a rule-set for point-attribute data effective for diagnosis of a disease condition in a patient, the method comprising:
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a) providing a first arm group of medical patients that have been diagnosed with the disease; b) providing a second arm group of medical patients that are free from the disease; c) using a conductivity-detecting apparatus to obtain a plurality X of data-sets corresponding to respective time-based conductivity measurements between similar points on the body of each patient; d) parsing said data-sets to determine a plurality Y of attributes, each attribute being effective to characterize a portion of a plot of a time-based conductivity measurement; e) expanding X data-sets by Y attributes to obtain (X)*(Y) point-attributes; f) determining if a threshold value exists for each point-attribute that would predict, above a threshold criteria, if a patient whose measured point-attribute value is compared to the threshold value would be in the first arm group or in the second arm group; g) discarding from further consideration each point-attribute for which such a threshold value can not be determined; h) retaining for further consideration at least one point-attribute for which such a threshold value can be determined; and i) populating said rule-set by the threshold value corresponding to each attribute at each retained point-attribute where the threshold criteria is satisfied. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system adapted to assist in making a diagnosis of
a disease condition in a medical patient, the system comprising: -
a computer assembly including a processor, a memory, and a display terminal; software loaded into said memory as program comprising an instruction set; a measurement device in communication with said computer assembly and operable to measure conductivity of the body of said patient between a ground point and a measurement point, said measurement device being capable of measuring conductivity as a function of time, and over a period of time, to obtain a conductivity data-set corresponding to each such measurement; said processor being programmed to; extract point-attribute values from at least one data-set; compare at least one attribute value obtained from a data-set to a previously determined corresponding attribute threshold in a table look-up operation; convert a portion of obtained point-attribute values to corresponding z-scores; weight each z-score by a corresponding predetermined overall accuracy; and combine each weighted z-score to develop a composite score for a patient. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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Specification