Consultation system for diagnosis of headache and facial pain: “Rhinos”

Abstract

How do doctors make diagnoses based on their medical knowledge? In this paper a hypothesis is proposed concerning a diagnostic method used by doctors in specialized areas of the medical field. The knowledge for the hypothesis has been provided by an authority in the field of medicine, and a diagnostic system for headache and facial pain, named RHINOS, has been implemented using the programming language Prolog, which is operative on a microcomputer with reasonable CPU time. Because it is operative on a microcomputer, RHINOS is portable and readily available.

RHINOS has four kinds of rules. Some perform as forward links from manifestations to diseases. Others perform as backward links from diseases to manifestations. Through harmonious use of this knowledge, RHINOS makes not only single diagnosis also makes differential-diagnosis. It also diagnoses cases of complication of two or more diseases.

RHINOS was used to diagnose 50 patients and 82% of its diagnostic results were equal to those made by a specialist. 16% were close to those. This shows that RHINOS is capable of diagnosing patients in almost the same way as a specialist.