Prototype selection and feature subset selection by estimation of distribution algorithms. A case study in the survival of cirrhotic patients treated with TIPS?

Abstract

The Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (TIPS) is an interventional treatment for cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension. In the light of our medical staff's experience, the consequences of TIPS are not homogeneous for all the patients and a subgroup dies in the first six months after TIPS placement. An investigation for predicting the conduct of cirrhotic patients treated with TIPS is carried out using a clinical database with 107 cases and 77 attributes. We have applied a new Estimation of Distribution Algorithms based approach in order to perform a Prototype and Feature Subset Selection to improve the classification accuracy obtained using all the variables and all the cases. Used paradigms are K-Nearest Neighbours, Artificial Neural Networks and Classification Trees.