EXPERT SYSTEM FOR LIVER DISEASE DIAGNOSIS (LITO 2)

The authors describe the general organization of an expert system (LITO 2) for liver disease diagnosis. A frame-like structure is adopted to represent the knowledge of the domain. A structured organization of diagnostic hypotheses is used allowing the system to focus its diagnostic reasoning: preliminary hypotheses, related to general groups of diseases are tried at first on the basis of clinical data, and their consistency is further assessed by a set of laboratory tests. The accepted hypotheses are then refined by new data gathering. Explanation mechanisms allow the user to evaluate the adequacy of the knowledge and to verify the reasoning path followed by the system.