New estimation approach for total hemoglobin concentration based on a fuzzy expert system

Abstract

Indeed, special emphasis is put on the optical methods as an aid tool to measure the total hemoglobin (THb) concentration which is one of the most frequently ordered laboratory measurements. The estimation approach is considered the cornerstone of those methods. We propose a new intelligent approach based on a fuzzy expert system that depends on Wang-Mendel method to generate a fuzzy rule-base. Real input-output data pairs were accurately measured to build that rule-based system, where each pair represents a different expected case. The inputs were six values of the light intensity with different wavelengths that were measured by the optical stage of a new THb concentration measuring device and also the value of the oxygen saturation (S pO2). The output values are measurements of the total hemoglobin concentration of an accurate reference laboratory. The capabilities of the developed fuzzy expert system are tested for estimating the total hemoglobin concentration over a wide range of cases by means of the root mean square (RMS) error and the correlation values. The RMS error's value was 1.24 g/dl and the correlation value was 0.977 which indicated that the estimated THb concentrations using the proposed approach were highly correlated to the reference laboratory measurements. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.