Visualizing Medical Knowledge - an “intelligent” textbook based on graphical browsing

In the process of exploring a method of presenting medical knowledge in a mainly graphical way for an “intelligent” textbook, a system has been implemented on a graphics workstation. The intention was not to build a consultation system, but rather to improve access to knowledge by visualizing complex relationships: the main feature is graphical browsing through a semantic net displayed on the screen. Nodes represent diseases, pathophysiological states, and findings; detailed information about the nodes may be displayed via pull-down menues. The main links represent “is-a”, “causes” (with variants like “causes with delay” or “predisposes-to”), “is-associated-with”, and “excludes” relationships. The first application domain of the system is gastroenterology. To date, 100 diseases, 100 pathophysiological states, and 400 findings have been entered.