Rule-based formalization of eligibility criteria for clinical trials (abstract)

Rule-based formalization of eligibility criteria for clinical trials (abstract)

Huang, Z.
Ten Teije, A.
Van Harmelen, F.

2013-11-07

In this extended abstract, we propose a rule-based formalization of eligibility criteria for clinical trials. The rule-based formalization is implemented by using the logic programming language Prolog. Compared with existing formalizations such as pattern-based and script-based languages, the rule-based formalization has the advantages of being declarative, expressive, reusable and easy to maintain. Our rule-based formalization is based on a general framework for eligibility criteria containing three types of knowledge: (1) trial-specific knowledge, (2) domain-specific knowledge and (3) common knowledge. This framework enables the reuse of several parts of the formalization of eligibility criteria. We have implemented the proposed rule-based formalization in SemanticCT, a semantically-enabled system for clinical trials, showing the feasibility of using our rule-based formalization of eligibility criteria for supporting patient recruitment in clinical trial systems.

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:be80ff30-33bc-4703-bd51-33f105bb8d6f

Conference proceedings

conference paper

(c) 2013 Huang, Z.; Ten Teije, A.; Van Harmelen, F.