Hyper-fractionation of transmission history for medical diagnostic software

• US 7,742,932 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2003
• Issued: 06/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SimulConsult, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SimulConsult, Inc.
• Inventors: Segal, Michael M.
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Connor; Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALTSCHUL, AMBER L
• Application Number:
  US10/350,217
• Publication Number:
  US 20040143455A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,708 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3, 705/4
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/50 for simulation or modelling of medical disorders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/80 for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics, e.g. flu

Abstract

The difficulties in incorporating transmission history into medical diagnostic software are non-obvious. These are addressed here with systems and methods for hyper-fractionation of transmission history in a way that allows the full power of this information to be used in medical diagnostic software.

Claims

1. A method of assisting in the diagnosis of a patient in need thereof, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing, in a physical computing device, a set of candidate diseases and associated initial parameters representing estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases;

(b) receiving, in said computing device, a patient transmission history for said patient being diagnosed, said patient transmission history comprising information about the presence or absence of disease in one or more family members or others nearby;

(c) fractionating said patient transmission history into a plurality of forms of transmission, using said computing device, wherein said fractionating comprises determining whether there is evidence for each of said plurality of forms of transmission being present or absent in said patient transmission history, and wherein at least one of said plurality of forms of transmission is a genetic form of transmission;

(d) using said computing device to iteratively modify said initial parameters representing estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases, using the information obtained from said fractionating of said patient transmission history into each of said plurality of forms of transmission, to obtain modified parameters representing modified estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases; and

(e) outputting a list capable of being displayed, said list comprising one or more of said candidate diseases having highest said modified estimated probabilities.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises using a Bayesian method to obtain said modified parameters representing modified estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said genetic form of transmission is selected from the group consisting of autosomal dominant transmission, autosomal recessive transmission, X-linked dominant transmission, X-linked recessive transmission, mitochondrial dominant transmission, and Y-linked dominant transmission.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a second of said plurality of forms of transmission is selected from the group consisting of contagious transmission and environmental transmission.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of forms of transmission are selected from the group consisting of autosomal dominant transmission, autosomal recessive transmission, X-linked dominant transmission, X-linked recessive transmission, mitochondrial dominant transmission, Y-linked dominant transmission, contagious transmission, and environmental transmission.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said method results in the diagnosis of said patient as having one of said candidate diseases having highest said modified estimated probabilities.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises modifying each of said initial parameters representing estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases, using the information obtained from said fractionating of said patient transmission history into each of said plurality of forms of transmission, to obtain modified parameters representing modified estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein step (e) comprises transmitting said list over the Internet.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein step (e) comprises outputting said list to a display device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising outputting to said display device said modified estimated probabilities of said one or more candidate diseases having highest said modified estimated probabilities in rank order.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of forms of transmission comprise at least eight forms of transmission.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises evaluating at least 16 types of said evidence for said plurality of forms of transmission.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises evaluating at least 26 types of positive or negative evidence for or against said plurality of forms of transmission.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises determining whether there is evidence for each of said plurality of forms of transmission being present or absent in said patient transmission history, based on the sibling information obtained from said patient transmission history.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises determining whether there is evidence for each of said plurality of forms of transmission being present or absent in said patient transmission history, based on the parent information obtained from said patient transmission history.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises providing factors accounting for mutation, penetrance, or error probabilities for each said candidate disease, and step (d) comprises using said factors to iteratively modify said initial parameters representing estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases, using the information obtained from said fractionating of said patient transmission history into each of said plurality of forms of transmission, to obtain modified parameters representing modified estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said patient transmission history comprises information about parental consanguinity or miscarriages.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein said patient transmission history comprises information about maternal uncles, more distant relatives, non-related contacts, or persons sharing exposure to the same environment.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein said patient transmission history consists of information about the presence or absence of disease in one or more family members or others nearby.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said associated initial parameters are estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said modified parameters are modified estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein said physical computing device is Unix-based or Windows-based.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein said physical computing device is accessed and operated over the Internet.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises computing a probability of expecting a patient transmission history for a particular form of transmission in the patient being diagnosed depending on evidence for presence or absence for each said form of transmission in said patient transmission history and using each said form of transmission to modify said initial parameters representing estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases to obtain said modified parameters representing modified estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein said genetic form of transmission is selected from the group consisting of autosomal dominant transmission, autosomal recessive transmission, X-linked dominant transmission, X-linked recessive transmission, mitochondrial dominant transmission, and Y-linked dominant transmission.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein step (e) comprises outputting said list to a display device.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising outputting to said display device said modified estimated probabilities of said one or more candidate diseases having highest said modified estimated probabilities in rank order.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein step (c) comprises determining whether there is evidence for each of said plurality of forms of transmission being present or absent in said patient transmission history, based on the sibling information obtained from said patient transmission history.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein step (c) comprises determining whether there is evidence for each of said plurality of forms of transmission being present or absent in said patient transmission history, based on the parent information obtained from said patient transmission history.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein step (a) further comprises providing factors accounting for mutation, penetrance, or error probabilities for each said candidate disease, and step (d) comprises using said factors to iteratively modify said initial parameters representing estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases, using the information obtained from said fractionating of said patient transmission history into each of said plurality of forms of transmission, to obtain modified parameters representing modified estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein said patient transmission history comprises information about parental consanguinity or miscarriages.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein said patient transmission history comprises information about maternal uncles, more distant relatives, non-related contacts, or persons sharing exposure to the same environment.

33. The method of claim 24, wherein said associated initial parameters are estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein said modified parameters are modified estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases.

35. A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for directing a physical computing device to implement a method of assisting in the diagnosis of a patient in need thereof, the instructions comprising the steps of:

(a) providing, in said computing device, a set of candidate diseases and associated initial parameters representing estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases;

(b) receiving, in said computing device, a patient transmission history for said patient being diagnosed, said patient transmission history comprising information about the presence or absence of disease in one or more family members or others nearby;

(c) fractionating said patient transmission history into a plurality of forms of transmission, using said computing device, wherein said fractionating comprises determining whether there is evidence for each of said plurality of forms of transmission being present or absent in said patient transmission history, and wherein at least one of said plurality of forms of transmission is a genetic form of transmission;

(d) using said computing device to iteratively modify said initial parameters representing estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases, using the information obtained from said fractionating of said patient transmission history into each of said plurality of forms of transmission, to obtain modified parameters representing modified estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases; and

(e) outputting a list capable of being displayed, said list comprising one or more of said candidate diseases having highest said modified estimated probabilities.

36. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein step (d) comprises computing a probability of expecting a patient transmission history for a particular form of transmission in the patient being diagnosed depending on evidence for presence or absence for each said form of transmission in said patient transmission history and using each said form of transmission to modify said initial parameters representing estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases to obtain said modified parameters representing modified estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases.

37. A physical computing device for assisting in the diagnosis of a patient in need thereof, said computing device comprising:

(a) a set of candidate diseases and associated initial parameters representing estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases;

(b) means for receiving a patient transmission history for said patient being diagnosed, said patient transmission history comprising information about the presence or absence of disease in one or more family members or others nearby;

(c) means for fractionating said patient transmission history into a plurality of forms of transmission, wherein said fractionating comprises determining whether there is evidence for each of said plurality of forms of transmission being present or absent in said patient transmission history, and wherein at least one of said plurality of forms of transmission is a genetic form of transmission;

(d) means for iteratively modifying said initial parameters representing estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases, using the information obtained from said fractionating of said patient transmission history into each of said plurality of forms of transmission, to obtain modified parameters representing modified estimated probabilities of said candidate diseases; and

(e) means for outputting a list capable of being displayed, said list comprising one or more of said candidate diseases having highest said modified estimated probabilities.