Publications
Extending The Medas Feature Dictionary To Support
Access To Musculo-Skeletal Radiological Images
05/01/1989
Bryan L. Kaufman3, Dean Sukin1, Dale A. Charletta5, Frank Naeymi-Rad1, Anna Kepic1,
David A. Trace1, Robert Rosenthal1, Lowell Carmony2, and Martha Evens4
1University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School, North Chicago, Illinois 60064
2Lake Forest College, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science,
Lake Forest, Illinois 60045
3The Cook County Hospital, Department of Radiology, Chicago, Illinois 60612
4Illinois Institute of Technology, Department of Computer Science, Chicago, Illinois 60616
5Rush Presbyterian-St. Lukes Medical Center, Department of Radiology, Chicago Illinois 60612
ABSTRACT
A Feature Dictionary has been added to MEDAS (the Medical Emergency Decision Assistance System) in order to support the different terminology used by physicians of different specialties in different locations to refer to the same feature (sign, symptoms, or finding). The Feature Dictionary contains a description of each feature along with information about normal limits for test values, units of measurement, etc. Synonyms used in different specialties and geographic locations are included to enable record linkage and comparison of knowledge bases from different sources.
Recently over 350 features corresponding to musculo-skeletal findings and diagnoses have been added to the Feature Dictionary. This will allow us to use the Feature Dictionary in recognizing, translating, and storing radiographic findings. The radiographic dictionary has been subdivided, into two separate categories; location and radiographic finding, which can be used in combination to provide detailed data. Location has been developed as a feature category due to the significance of locale when translating radiographic data.
With the addition of radiographic data the Feature Dictionary needs to be expanded to include radiographs, both normal and abnormal to match each feature. Hypermedia has been used to support the online illustrations.
The Illustrated Feature Dictionary will prove an educational tool for medical students as well as a support to residents reading radiographs in the absence of an attending physician. In addition, the practicing physician using MEDAS could increase both patient understanding and education when describing radiographic findings.
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