EXTRACTING KNOWLEDGE FROM LARGE MEDICAL DATABASES - AN AUTOMATED APPROACH

Tools which can uncover patterns in patients' records and then make pr edictions based on that knowledge are and will continue to be high pri ority in many medical informatics groups. These tools are impacting th e performance of outcome studies by discovering patterns which can the n be verified with standard statistical tools. This paper demonstrates INC2.5, a general classification system, as a tool for assisting phys icians in the decision making process. INC2.5 gathers information from patient records and builds a decision tree which is used to assist ph ysicians in predicting the outcome of new patients. The decision tree will also reveal any patterns which the system found in the data. Succ essful results of such a system can be used to enhance outcome studies as well as to spread clinical information to areas with fewer resourc es. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.