Department of Defense Breast Cancer Decision Guide

The Department of Defense Breast Cancer Decision Guide is a web-based decision support system being developed for individuals diagnosed with breast cancer, their family members, and healthy individuals with concerns about breast cancer risk. It includes a browsing section for general information and a series of consultations for tailored information on topics that presently include understanding a specific breast cancer diagnosis and treatment options. The consultations run on a version of the WebLS (Amzi incl) web-based inference engine that has been enhanced to accommodate a modularized breast cancer knowledge base. To facilitate authoring, vetting, maintenance, and reuse, the knowledge base has been constructed as a variation of the Arden Medical Knowledge Representation System. Simple if-then logic statements are used for inferencing and selecting questions and information for display. Other features control question and information display order and block display of conflicting information when inconsistent responses are entered. The dynamically generated output screens include links to the Decision Guide’s glossary and browsing section and to relevant external websites. Individuals interested in viewing the in-development site should contact srobsaic@telerama.Im.com or mary@amzi.com. This work was funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command under contract DAMD17-93-C-3141.

The Department of Defense Breast Cancer Decision Guide will be at the Showcase and Games in Philadelphia, PA from May 27-28, 1998.

Contact information:

Sabina I. Robinson
Sr. Biomedical Scientist
Science Applications International Corporation
5867 Solway Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15217-1228

Telephone: 412-421-0539
Fax: 412-421-5409

Email: srobsaic@telerama.lm.com

http://odphp.osophs.dhhs.gov/confrnce/partnr98/Showcase/DeptofDefense.htm