DIAMED: a probabilistic diagnostic aid system on the web

DIAMED is a system to assist the physicians in the diagnostic process using probabilistic networks as knowledge representation. These networks make it possible to reason on medical data by applying Bayesian methods and to take into account uncertainties of the facts in the resolution of the clinical cases. The proposed model re-uses knowledge contained in an existing knowledge base (ADM). An interface of DIAMED developed on a Web server remotely assists the experts of each medical specialty in updating and validating the knowledge base. Most of the data processing is automated while being based on information preexistent in the ADM base : Constitution of lexicons starting from the existing dictionaries of the ADM system, are then used to work out the requests for selection and update of the knowledge base. One of its assets resides in its pseudo-segmented structure in several layers. The propagation of information is thus limited to only one part of the probabilistic network and calculations are therefore limited.