Matrix structure representation of a medical knowledge base

A matrix representation for medical knowledge is developed, to take into account the various nuances inherent to situations with clinical relevance. This matrix structure is applied to the Medwise knowledge base, which covers 2400 disease descriptions for use with a diagnostic program. It is found that the performance (i.e. establishing the correct diagnosis when analyzing 100 cases published in the literature) was 40% better than for conventional presentation of the same information. In addition, certain production rules can only be formulated with the use of such a matrix