Automated knowledge acquisition from clinical databases based on rough sets and attribute-oriented generalization.

Rule induction methods have been proposed in order to acquire knowledge automatically from databases. However, conventional approaches do not focus on the implementation of induced results into an expert system. In this paper, the author focuses not only on rule induction but also on its evaluation and presents a systematic approach from the former to the latter as follows. First, a rule induction system based on rough sets and attribute-oriented generalization is introduced and was applied to a database of congenital malformation to extract diagnostic rules. Then, by the use of the induced knowledge, an expert system which makes a differential diagnosis on congenital disorders is developed. Finally, this expert system was evaluated in an outpatient clinic, the results of which show that the system performs as well as a medical expert.