The performance of a computer system for metabolic assessment of patients with nephrolithiasis

✍ Scribed by Fredric Lawrence Coe

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1974
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 904 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-4809
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-4809(74)90041-x

✦ Synopsis

A logic-based computer program for metabolic assessment of patients with nephrolithiasis was used to evaluate 122 consecutive patients with that disease. Each patient was evaluated initially by a nephrologist, then retrospectively when more data were available. Diagnostic accuracy of computer and nephrologist were compared to the retrospective analysis, which was considered "correct".
The computer identified 94.6 % of metabolic disorders present; the physician was less accurate, 81.6 'A (P O.l).
Logic-based systems can assess exactly defined disorders, such as metabolic disturbances in stone patients, in a nearly perfect manner. When diagnostic endpoints are not welldefined, they perform poorly.