Research on penetrating trauma has shown that the early administration of expert care to victims would considerably reduce the number of deaths due to these injuries. Assessment of penetrating trauma requires knowledge of the relationships among human anatomy, physiology and physical manifestations of injury. Tools or knowledge aids that reinforce understanding of these relationships for a patient presenting with penetrating injury may be of value in enhancing patient care. A computer program that integrates anatomic and diagnostic reasoning in assessing a patient could serve as such a tool or knowledge-aid. To address this issue, we have proposed a method for computer-assisted diagnosis of penetrating trauma to the chest and abdomen that assesses anatomical structure involvement in injury based on surface wound location information, and uses this information to drive diagnostic reasoning about the consequences of injury. The method takes into account uncertainty about the extent of damage caused by a mechanism of injury and variability in information available about patient signs, symptoms, and test results. The goal of this proposal is to test the hypothesis that this computer-based method can provide value both as a diagnostic tool, and as an educational one. To assess this, we will conduct a study that retrospectively evaluates a large number of penetrating trauma cases for which the diagnoses are already known, and measure the system's performance in evaluating these cases. We will also examine the system's performance in comparison to physicians at different stages of training, to assess its potential in providing educational value.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01LM007167-02
Application #
6620044
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZLM1-SJP-R (J2))
Program Officer
Florance, Valerie
Project Start
2002-03-15
Project End
2005-02-28
Budget Start
2003-04-01
Budget End
2004-02-29
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$238,740
Indirect Cost
Name
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Department
Type
DUNS #
030811269
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115
Ahmed, Bilal A; Matheny, Michael E; Rice, Phillip L et al. (2009) A comparison of methods for assessing penetrating trauma on retrospective multi-center data. J Biomed Inform 42:308-16
Ogunyemi, Omolola (2006) Methods for reasoning from geometry about anatomic structures injured by penetrating trauma. J Biomed Inform 39:389-400
Matheny, Michael E; Ogunyemi, Omolola I; Rice, Phillip L et al. (2005) Evaluating the discriminatory power of a computer-based system for assessing penetrating trauma on retrospective multi-center data. AMIA Annu Symp Proc :500-4