Fuzzy neural network methodology applied to medical diagnosis

This paper presents a technique for building expert systems that combines the fuzzy-set approach with artificial neural network structures. This technique can effectively deal with two types of medical knowledge: a nonfuzzy one and a fuzzy one which usually contributes to the process of medical diagnosis. Nonfuzzy numerical data is obtained from medical tests. Fuzzy linguistic rules describing the diagnosis process are provided by a human expert. The proposed method has been successfully applied in veterinary medicine as a support system in the diagnosis of canine liver diseases.