[Influence of diagnostic information on visual action of interpretation]

Pertinent information used in radiographic diagnosis consists mainly of abstract abnormal findings. Experience has show that the reasoning process required to interpret this information is the most important element of a proper diagnosis. Thus, it is important to combine the results of radiograms with information obtained through actual observation of oral cavities. To reveal the thinking process required while reading radiograms, it is important to have an objective study in which visual action is followed as a reference. For this reason, studies on visual action have been conducted in the fields of medicine and dentistry using eye movement recording systems. In the field of medicine, Kundel and Nodine reported on visual actions while subjects were engaged in reading chest radiograms. In the field of dental medicine, and especially in oral diagnostics, Yamano et al. introduced an eye mark recorder which quantitatively analyzed the visual action of dentists during radiographic diagnosis. This device may lead to important information which can be used in making diagnoses, especially quantitative information. They concluded that the eye mark recorder is effective for quantitative evaluation of the thinking process during radiographic diagnoses. Thus, we focused our attention on visual action in analyzing the thinking process during radiographic diagnosis and by means of such analytical techniques, studied how information obtained from oral diagnostics can affect the thinking process during radiographic diagnosis. (1) The equipment used was the visual action analysis system. (2) Seventy-five dentists were engaged in reading radiograms for this study. (3) The radiograms we used included two pictures of marginal periodontitis and periapical periodontitis. (4) Diagnostic information given. Group A: none, group B: chief complaints, and group C: chief complaints, present symptoms and history of the present illness. We investigated how prior presentation of such information would affect visual action during radiographic diagnosis, and obtained the following results. 1. Newly-developed correction system. The newly-developed correction system made it possible to detect the fixation point more precisely by correcting head movement in real time. 2. Effect of prior oral diagnostic information on visual action during radiographic reading. 1) Effect on total fixation time. For both marginal periodontitis and periapical periodontitis, the total fixation time was shorter in group C than in groups A and B. 2) Effect on the total fixation time spent on decayed teeth. For both marginal periodontitis and periapical periodontitis, the total fixation time spent on decayed teeth was longer in group B than in groups A and C.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)