Differentiating Small (≤1 cm) Focal Liver Lesions as Metastases or Cysts by means of Computed Tomography : A Case-Study to Illustrate a Fuzzy Logic-Based Method to Assess the Impact of Diagnostic Confidence on Radiological Diagnosis
Joint Authors
Fabris, Francesco
Sgarro, Andrea
Zanella, Gloria
Bazzocchi, Massimo
Pullini, Serena
Cereser, Lorenzo
Como, Giuseppe
Girometti, Rossano
Zuiani, Chiara
Source
Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine
Issue
Vol. 2014, Issue 2014 (31 Dec. 2014), pp.1-9, 9 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2014-01-27
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
9
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
Purpose.
To quantify the impact of diagnostic confidence on radiological diagnosis with a fuzzy logic-based method.
Materials and Methods.
Twenty-two oncologic patients with 20 cysts and 30 metastases ≤1 cm in size found at 64-row computed tomography were included.
Two readers (R1/R2) expressed diagnoses as a subjective level of confidence P(d) in malignancy within the interval [0,1] rather than on a “crisp” basis (malignant/benign); confidence in benignancy was 1-p(d).
When cross-tabulating data according to the standard of reference, 2×2 table cells resulted from the aggregation between p(d)/1-p(d) and final diagnosis.
We then assessed (i) readers diagnostic performance on a fuzzy and crisp basis; (ii) the “divergence” δ(F,C) (%) as a measure of how confidence impacted on crisp diagnosis.
Results.
Diagnoses expressed with lower confidence increased fuzzy false positives compared to crisp ones (from 0 to 0.2 for R1; from 1 to 2.4 for R2).
Crisp/fuzzy accuracy was 94.0%/93.6% (R1) and 94.0/91.6% (R2).
δ(F,C) (%) was larger in the case of the less experienced reader (R2) (up to +7.95% for specificity).
According to simulations, δ(F,C) (%) was negative/positive depending on the level of confidence in incorrect diagnoses.
Conclusion.
Fuzzy evaluation shows a measurable effect of uncertainty on radiological diagnoses.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Girometti, Rossano& Fabris, Francesco& Sgarro, Andrea& Zanella, Gloria& Pullini, Serena& Cereser, Lorenzo…[et al.]. 2014. Differentiating Small (≤1 cm) Focal Liver Lesions as Metastases or Cysts by means of Computed Tomography : A Case-Study to Illustrate a Fuzzy Logic-Based Method to Assess the Impact of Diagnostic Confidence on Radiological Diagnosis. Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine،Vol. 2014, no. 2014, pp.1-9.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-483091
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Girometti, Rossano…[et al.]. Differentiating Small (≤1 cm) Focal Liver Lesions as Metastases or Cysts by means of Computed Tomography : A Case-Study to Illustrate a Fuzzy Logic-Based Method to Assess the Impact of Diagnostic Confidence on Radiological Diagnosis. Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine No. 2014 (2014), pp.1-9.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-483091
American Medical Association (AMA)
Girometti, Rossano& Fabris, Francesco& Sgarro, Andrea& Zanella, Gloria& Pullini, Serena& Cereser, Lorenzo…[et al.]. Differentiating Small (≤1 cm) Focal Liver Lesions as Metastases or Cysts by means of Computed Tomography : A Case-Study to Illustrate a Fuzzy Logic-Based Method to Assess the Impact of Diagnostic Confidence on Radiological Diagnosis. Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine. 2014. Vol. 2014, no. 2014, pp.1-9.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-483091
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-483091