ICT at Work

Most of us aren’t experts when it comes to medical diagnosis. He really doesn’t seem well. Shall I call a doctor or can it wait until morning?

Most people don’t want to call a doctor out at night unless they really have to, but often they don’t know enough to decide what to do. They would like to ask an expert. the NHS Direct web site has a self help system that tries to help you decide what to do you answer questions about the symptoms, and the system will suggest the best course of action you can also telephone NHS Direct and speak to a trained nurse who will help you decide the nurse uses an expert system to help make the diagnosis.

Expert systems are computer systems that try to “think” as a human expert would. They have a huge database of stored information and a set of rules that apply to it. They don’t replace human experts but they can help people make the best decisions.

In many countries, the rate of skin cancers (melanomas) is increasing, probably due to increased exposure to the sun. An image is taken of the patient’s skin. It is then analysed for colour and texture to decide what treatment is needed. An expert system can be used to analyse images of skin lesions.

Modern surgery concentrates on making the smallest wound possible to reduce damage to the body. This is called microsurgery. Thin robotic arms are fitted with surgical instruments. They reduce hand tremors and allow tiny incisions, which speeds up healing. Doctors can use 3D images of their patients to see the shapes of tumours and to practise in advance of surgery. In 2001, a doctor in the USA operated on a patient in France – the first telesurgery.

Once organ transplants were very rare and very risky. Today they are much more common. register patients for transplants match donated organs to waiting patients manage the data of all patients, before and after their transplants. The data can be analysed to improve the success rate of future transplants. The chances of the transplant working rely on how closely the donor organ matches the patient’s needs. Databases are built up to:

Summary Expert systems store information that users can search by asking questions, and can help diagnose illness. Computers can be used to analyse pictures of skin damage to help diagnose diseases. Microsurgery uses robotic arms to operate using tiny incisions so that patients heal more quickly. The surgeon could even be in another country, operating by telesurgery. Virtual surgery can be used to train surgeons. Donated organs can be matched to donors quickly using computer databases.