INDIAM—An e-Learning System for the Interpretation of Mammograms

We propose the design of a teaching system named Interpretation and Diagnosis of Mammograms (INDIAM) for training students in the interpretation of mammograms and diagnosis of breast cancer. The proposed system integrates an illustrated tutorial on radiology of the breast, that is, mammography, which uses education techniques to guide the user (doctors, students, or researchers) through various concepts related to the diagnosis of breast cancer. The user can obtain informative text about specific subjects, access a library of bibliographic references, and retrieve cases from a mammographic database that are similar to a query case on hand. The information of each case stored in the mammographic database includes the radiological findings, the clinical history, the lifestyle of the patient, and complementary exams. The breast cancer tutorial is linked to a module that simulates the analysis and diagnosis of a mammogram. The tutorial incorporates tools for helping the user to evaluate his or her knowledge about a specific subject by using the education system or by simulating a diagnosis with appropriate feedback in case of error. The system also makes available digital image processing tools that allow the user to draw the contour of a lesion, the contour of the breast, or identify a cluster of calcifications in a given mammogram. The contours provided by the user are submitted to the system for evaluation. The teaching system is integrated with AMDI—An Indexed Atlas of Digital Mammograms—that includes case studies, e-learning, and research systems. All the resources are accessible via the Web

INDIAM um sistema de ensino para auxiliar estudantes na interpretação de mamografias e diagnósticos de câncer de mama via Web

This work presents an overview of INDIAM INterpretation and DIAgnosis of Mammograms an e-learning system for assisting medical students in the interpretation of mammograms and diagnosis of breast cancer. The knowledge base of INDIAM is composed of a mammographic database that includes cases with all the available mammographic standard views, global and local radiological findings, diagnosis proven by biopsy, the patient s clinical history, and information about the life style of the patient; an ontology, called BreastCancerOnto, that available semantics in the Web services integrated into the e-learning system; and a hypertext tutorial which guides the users (doctors, students, or researchers) through the concepts related to the diagnosis of breast cancer. The proposed e-learning system is composed of four principal Web services: one to guide the beginner student through the steps of analyzing a mammogram; one to simulate the diagnosis of a given mammogram retrieved from the mammographic database; one to answer questions from the user based on BreastCancerOnto ontology; and one to make available the tutorial about diagnosis of breast cancer. The INDIAM e-learning system is being integrated into AMDI - an indexed atlas of digital mammography that can be accessed via the Web.Mestre em Ciência da ComputaçãoEste projeto apresenta uma visão geral sobre o INDIAM INterpretação e DIAgnóstico de Mamografias um sistema de educação à distância, orientado a problema, para auxiliar estudantes de medicina na interpretação de mamogramas e no diagnóstico de câncer de mama. A base de conhecimento do INDIAM é composta por uma base de dados mamográficos que inclui as quatro vistas mamográficas, os achados radiológicos global e local, o diagnóstico comprovado por biopsia, o histórico clínico e informações sobre o estilo de vida da paciente; por uma ontologia denominada BreastCancerOnto, que incorpora semântica aos serviços Web integrados ao sistema; e por um tutorial hipertexto que orienta os usuários (médicos, estudantes, ou pesquisadores) na navegação pelos conceitos relacionados com o diagnóstico de câncer de mama. O sistema de ensino sendo proposto é composto por quatro serviços Web: 1) que orienta o estudante iniciante, passo a passo, para análise correta de um dado mamograma; 2) que simula o diagnóstico de câncer de mama dada uma mamograma recuperada a partir da base de dados mamográficos; 3) que responde às questões dos usuários de acordo com a BreastCancerOnto; 4) e finalmente, que disponibiliza um tutorial sobre diagnóstico de câncer de mama usando técnicas de educação. O sistema de ensino INDIAM será integrado a um atlas indexado de mamografias digitais acessado via Web