[Medical expert and consultation systems: review and examples for their use]

After a general introduction into the area of medical expert and consultation systems, a survey about different types of medical expert systems is given. The different objectives and modes of application of medical expert systems are presented and explained in detail. In the second part of this paper, the applicability of computer systems for fully automated interpretation of hepatitis serology findings in the clinical laboratory and for aiding differential diagnosis in internal medicine is described. With the examples given, it is demonstrated that expert systems for clinical decision aid can be of great benefit for the physician in the hospital or the doctor's office.