DIAGNOSIS OF TOXOPLASMOSIS DURING PREGNANCY - COMPUTER-ASSISTED INTERPRETATION OF SEROLOGICAL TEST-RESULTS

Primary infection with Toxoplasma gondii during pregnancy can result i n fetal infection with serious sequelae for the unborn if not treated properly. Early diagnosis enables drug therapy and significantly reduc es the risk of fetal disease. A systematic serological screening proce dure was established in Austria in 1975 to detect primary toxoplasma i nfection as early as possible during pregnancy. Since the screening pr ogram is based solely on observation and interpretation of serological data, the question arises whether a knowledge-based system for automa tic interpretation can achieve a sufficient interpretative accuracy fo r introduction to routine work. For this reason the system TOXOPERI-I was developed. The system is aimed at facilitating routine laboratory work, as well as assuring quality by setting standards for therapy. Th e required knowledge base was designed as a knowledge graph, each stat e representing a certain interpretation. One or more available serolog ical test results cause the knowledge graph to change its current stat e. if all available test results are processed, the final state reache d corresponds to the respective current interpretation for the patient . A retrospective analysis of 1000 pregnant women yielded a total diag nostic sensitivity and specificity of over 99% in comparison with the clinician's diagnosis which was used as the Gold Standard.