ASTM E31.15 on health knowledge representation: the Arden Syntax

ASTM subcommittee E31.15 on Health Knowledge Representation was formed to promote standards for defining and sharing health knowledge bases. Its first standard, the Ardan Syntax, is focused on knowledge bases that can be represented as a set of independent modules called Medical Logic Modules (MLMs). The standard is in clinical use and has generated significant interest in industry and academics. The Extensions task group plans to extend the syntax where appropriate, to expand to other types of knowledge bases. The Validation/Verification task group is approaching the enormous problem of evaluating knowledge bases and the process of sharing them.