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TREACT: An expert system consultation program to aid in the diagnosis of transfusion reactions
Author(s) -
Shifman M. A.,
Vesilind G. W.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
transfusion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.045
H-Index - 132
eISSN - 1537-2995
pISSN - 0041-1132
DOI - 10.1046/j.1537-2995.1988.28388219154.x
Subject(s) - concordance , medical diagnosis , cohen's kappa , medicine , transfusion reaction , transfusion medicine , expert system , statistic , kappa , medical emergency , pediatrics , medical physics , blood transfusion , computer science , surgery , pathology , artificial intelligence , machine learning , statistics , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics
We have developed a rule‐based, expert system consultation program, TREACT, to aid in the diagnosis of transfusion reactions. Given clinical signs, symptoms, and laboratory results, the program generates diagnoses, alerts the user when a medical director should be called, suggests follow‐up actions, and makes recommendations for future transfusion. Diagnoses made by TREACT, including 121 reactions, were compared with those of the medical directors over a 6‐month period. The overall diagnostic concordance between the medical directors and the program was 0.777. When this was corrected for chance association (kappa statistic), the concordance was 0.703 (p < 0.0001), which can be interpreted on a qualitative scale as substantial agreement. The program has also been used successfully as a tool for training new technologists. Other advantages and possibilities that expert systems offer to transfusion medicine are discussed.