Ontology-based formal concept differences analysis in radiology report impact by the adoption of pacs

Abstract

Following the advent of information technology and the rapid growth of its application in the medical field, the picture archiving and communication system (PACS) became very popular in mid- to large-scale hospitals. This study aimed to compare the concept lattice of radiology report content before and after the adoption of PACS. This study proposes a formal concept analysis process to produce different levels of ontological concepts from the radiology report. Ontology concept lattice diagrams are presented along with the correlation of concepts and their corresponding significance. The conceptual clustering method is applied to obtain a reasonable number of concepts. To find differences, the structure of ontology is compared in different phases by using a distance measurement. The study results showed a delicate change in radiology report terms before and after the adoption of the system. Given the quantitative analysis results, a qualitative-focused ethnography will be further conducted with several radiologists. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009.