Investigating oncological databases using conceptual landscapes

Abstract

This paper presents an application of the conceptual landscapes paradigm in the representation of the knowledge content of oncological databases. Even if the method is not new, to the best of our knowledge it is the first time when applied in the study of oncological data. Moreover, building knowledge management systems for medical databases might be of interest for large scale health-care industrial applications of Formal Concept Analysis. Conceptual Landscapes is a paradigm of Knowledge Representation which is grounded on Conceptual Knowledge Processing. Using the mathematical apparatus of Formal Concept Analysis and the knowledge management suite ToscanaJ, as well as a triadic extension called Toscana2Trias, we present several issues related to the study of adverse drug reactions in oncology using conceptual landscapes, as well as building a knowledge management system of a cancer registry database according to the principles of Conceptual Knowledge Processing. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.