Intelligent data retrieval system as a decision support in cardiology in an Intranet environment

Wide availability of computing resources encourages archiving clinical data to a large extent, thus making difficult an effective and easy data retrieval approach. The solution the authors present is aimed at helping the physician in retrieving discriminant parameters for a particular subject, both for initial diagnosis and therapeutical control. Since the system has an active role in the process of decision making, the authors have called it Intelligent Data Retrieval System (IDR). It consists of an interactive front-end, carried out around four main features: handling the problem of dishomogeneous data, suggesting significant data through an heuristic approach and helping the user to apply dimension reduction procedures. Moreover the system allows a wide portability and the use of encryption algorithms as well. Portability and easy access to patient data has been further. Improved by implementing the system as an Intranet application.