[The concept and use of artificial neural networks in medicine]

The use of neural networks in medicine is concentrated mainly on classification purposes. In particular, neural networks applications in spectroscopy are discussed, where this approach offers powerful algorithmic tools for interpretation of spectral data and elucidation of chemical structure of compounds. Neural networks are effective also for the classification and prediction of chemical reactivity and structure of proteins and also for QSAR and QSRR studies. At present the most successful use of neural networks in clinical medicine is image analysis and analysis of wave forms--ECG or EEG pattern recognition and classification and partly also clinical diagnosis and prognosis. (Tab. 7, Fig. 2, Ref. 170.)