Thorax--a program to assist in the preoperative risk assessment of patients undergoing thoracic surgery

Patients who undergo thoracic surgical procedures often are at high risk. Several risk-scoring systems have been advocated; they are complex and unwieldy. Also, physicians-in-training need a teaching tool with a consistent format. A program for these needs has been written in the high-level language Modula-2 for the Macintosh Computer. The user enters height, weight and easily obtainable data. Normal values are accessed via a 'window' which is triggered by clicking the 'mouse'. When pulmonary data is entered, cardiovascular system questions are presented. The user is finally presented with entered data, calculated data and a risk estimate. Complications estimates are derived from a special LEARNER file. The program 'learns' from a constantly expanding database.