Development of a PC-based expert system for lower urinary tract pressure-flow studies

Summary

An on-line personal computer (PC)-based expert system was constructed for pressure-flow study of the lower urinary tract. An “empty” expert-system “shell” and supplementary programs were used for this system; the latter served to compensate the defects of the “shell” and are referred to as data programs in this report. The data programs were written in the C programming language and were used for on-line data sampling, data entry using a photoscanner, calculation of parameters, saving and loading of data, graphic display, and printing. The “urodynamic” pressure-flow expert system necessitates on-line data transfer, since it requires a large volume of data. However, off-line data recorded on paper was also made available for ready input by a photoscanner. Reasonable diagnostic accuracy has been achieved by our new expert system for pressure-flow studies. It should be useful in the clinical setting as well as for teaching urological students.