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C Ohmann

Publications and source records attributed to C Ohmann.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Integration of a data dictionary and a clinical database in an expert system for acute abdominal pain.

Despite promising results, computer-aided diagnosis in acute abdominal pain is rarely used in the clinic. We therefore developed an expert system for acute abdominal pain to be used in clinical routine. The system is based on a new approach integrating a data dictionary, a clinical database and the knowledge base. A data dictionary editor has been developed (C++, WINDOWS, IBM-compatible PC) and a data dictionary for acute abdominal pain has been built up. The clinical database has been linked to a documentation program providing three modes of data entry. The documentation program has been evaluated extensively by clinicians. The integrated approach clearly separates clinical data from knowledge, but guarantees high consistency of data.

Abdominal Pain↗
PubMed1994

Quality assurance in gastroenterology: the Telegastro project.

The goal of this Telegastro project is to improve standards of care in gastroenterology by establishing and circulating a 'consensus' view of several aspects of 'good practice' in specific areas of gastroenterology. The background for the study is described, followed by the detailed goals of the project and the modus operandi designed to achieve these goals. Finally, the problems of implementing such a package are discussed along with progress in the first 18 months and schedules for future activities.

Computer Communication Networks↗
PubMed1994

[Significance of anamnesis and clinical findings for diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Acute Abdominal Pain Study Group].

UNLABELLED: Acute appendicitis raises considerable diagnostic difficulties. This is proven by rates of negative appendectomies that sometimes extent 30%. In order to find reasons for this we tested 211 patients findings for diagnostic relevance. METHOD: Within the European Community--Acute Abdominal Pain Survey, a study to support diagnosis in acute abdominal pain, 1254 patients were seen in the six participating German hospitals. 16.8% had appendicitis. History data and physical findings were tested for positive and negative predictive value (PPV/NPV), sensitivity and specificity (SEN/SPE). RESULTS: We had 15% negative appendectomies and 16% perforated appendicies. Only few of the parameters tested show a PPW significantly higher than the prior probability of appendicitis: (PPV/NPV/SEN/SPE in %) rebound tenderness 39/63/91/80, tenderness in the right lower quadrant 36/82/95/70, pain right lower quadrant at presentation 34/77/94/70, onset of pain right lower quadrant 29/49/88/75, rigidity 28/9/84/95, guarding 26/43/87/76. All other parameters had a lower PPV. The combination of three parameters leads to maximal PPV of 85%. CONCLUSION: Very few symptoms are helpful in diagnosing appendicitis: the pain related symptoms (spontaneous pain, tenderness and rebound tenderness, guarding) and the history of the pain hint at an appendicitis. A structured and complete medical history and physical examination focussing on these few symptoms, a systematic combination of these and possibly ultrasonography will improve diagnostic accuracy.

Abdomen, Acute↗
PubMed1993

[Computer-assisted surgery documentation in clinical routine practice].

In surgery, computer support is still of minor importance. It is the aim of this publication to outline the concept of a computer-assisted documentation system for surgical procedures, to describe the realization of the concept and to discuss the results of the evaluation. Planning of the system started in 1988 with an analysis of existing computer support at our clinic, definition of the parameters to be documented and determination of the classifications to be used, followed by a design for the system's use and a decision on hardware and software. The system is run on an IBM-compatible personal computer with three terminals, and the software used is MEDOS. The surgical procedures are documented with a four-level hierarchical classification related to the VESKA code and the internal university codes. After extensive training of the doctors, routine use commenced in 1991. Up to now 9837 operations have been documented by 35 surgeons. The system produces all necessary statistics and supports scientific studies and inquiries from individual doctors. A prospective evaluation of 300 consecutive operations demonstrated good compliance of the doctors and high data quality. To achieve optimal benefit from the use of computers it is recommended that departmental communication and documentation systems be gradually built up in surgical departments.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1993

Prospective evaluation of prognostic scoring systems in peritonitis. Peritonitis Study Group.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of the APACHE II score, the Mannheim Peritonitis Index (MPI), and the Peritonitis Index Altona (PIA) II in the prediction of outcome of patients with peritonitis. DESIGN: Prospective, multicentre study. SETTING: 12 Departments of Surgery in Europe. SUBJECTS: 271 Patients with peritonitis confirmed at laparatomy. INTERVENTIONS: Computation of the three scores on one set of data for each patient. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The ability to predict death or survival within 30 days of operation with each of the three scores. The prediction were evaluated according to the following criteria: discriminatory ability (areas under the receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curves relating sensitivity to specificity); sharpness (level of confidence that was associated with a prediction); and reliability (agreement between predicted and observed mortality within equidistant intervals on the scale). RESULTS: APACHE II was superior to both the MPI and PIA II in its discriminatory ability and reliability, but the MPI and PIA II made more "sharp" predictions. CONCLUSIONS: None of the three scores is of any use for predicting the outcome for individual patients. APACHE II is the current standard for assessing the severity of peritonitis.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Cholecystectomy through laparotomy].

Laparotomy cholecystectomy is the "gold standard operation". Its mortality is almost nil. Its morbidity dramatically decreased while digestive surgery was improving. Alternative therapies are to be compared to it. Indications of laparotomy cholecystectomy remain frequent today but will decrease promptly due to the functional and cosmetic benefits of coelioscopic cholecystectomy.

Cholecystectomy↗
PubMed1992

Peptic ulcer bleeding: medical and surgical point of view. Results of a prospective interdisciplinary multicenter observational study. DUSUK Study Group.

Various treatment policies and clinical disciplines compete for the treatment of bleeding peptic ulcer. In a prospective multicenter and interdisciplinary study performed during a 1-year period at ten hospitals in Düsseldorf, all patients admitted for peptic ulcer bleeding were recorded. The characteristics of patients admitted to surgical and to medical departments, the distribution of endoscopic treatment, indications for surgery, type of surgical procedures, and outcome were investigated. In the study period 387 bleeding peptic ulcers were recorded. Of these patients 82% were primarily admitted to medical and 18% to surgical departments. No differences in terms of severity of ulcer disease or bleeding activity were noted between the groups of medical and surgical patients. However, accompanying or underlying diseases were detected more often in patients admitted to medical departments. Endoscopy treatment was performed in the majority of patients with arterial spurting bleeding (88%) or a visible vessel (80%). Injection therapy with epinephrine or polidocanol was mainly used (78%). In 16% of cases the patients underwent operation; 44% of the patients primarily admitted to a surgical department were operated (medical departments, 10%). About half of the operated patients underwent emergency surgery; in the majority of cases resections were performed (gastric ulcer, 76%; duodenal ulcer, 56%). Overall mortality was 11%, with no difference between surgical and medical patients. A high mortality was observed in the subgroup of patients with late recurrent bleeding (27%). It is concluded that for optimal treatment of peptic ulcer bleeding intensive cooperation between physicians and surgeons is necessary, and that agreed and evaluated treatment policies are needed.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

[Sonomorphology of stress cholecystitis].

Acute acalculous cholecystitis is a well-known complication in postoperative and particularly in severely traumatized unit patients. All that is known so far of "stress"-cholecystitis is based on episodic case reports and retrospective analyses. An incidence between 0.5 and 4.2%, a complicated clinical course and a lethality up to 75% have been reported. In intensive-care unit patients a clinical diagnosis of suspected acute cholecystitis is rarely reliable; greater reliance is placed on the ultrasound findings as seen in our prospective study. According to the literature, the established ultrasound criteria of cholecystitis include: hydrops, thickening of the gallbladder wall, sludge, subserosal oedema, pericholecystic fluid collection and fragmentation of the gallbladder wall. Other factors, however, may also lead to morphological changes of the gallbladder, and hence there is no agreement about the definitive sonomorphology of this entity. The variability of sonomorphological criteria is reviewed and compared to the results of a series of our own.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1992

Acute cholecystitis: a complication in severely injured intensive care patients.

Acute cholecystitis is an often unrecognized and potentially life-threatening complication seen among ICU patients with multiple injury. To investigate the epidemiology of this entity and to evaluate significant etiologic precursors, a prospective clinical and sonographic study was performed in 45 consecutive patients (mean age, 29 years) treated for multiple trauma (mean ISS, 27) in the ICU. Eight of 45 patients developed a cholecystitis during intensive care treatment (18%). Six patients recovered with conservative therapy; in two instances a cholecystectomy was necessary. There was no mortality as a result of cholecystitis. A significant relationship between the severity of the initial trauma (p less than 0.05), the number of blood transfusions (p less than 0.01), and the incidence of acute cholecystitis was found. Other factors such as prolonged shock, respiratory failure, or parenteral alimentation were less prevalent and were not temporally related to the onset of the disease. All patients had large amounts of narcotics administered over a prolonged period, so that narcotic-induced biliary stasis appeared to be another eminent factor involved in the genesis of posttraumatic cholecystitis. Our results lead to the conclusion that acute cholecystitis occurs with an unexpectedly high incidence and that a high remission rate can be expected following conservative treatment provided that appropriate serial ultrasound examinations are performed.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1992

Incidence and pattern of peptic ulcer bleeding in a defined geographical area. DUSUK Study Group.

Despite the introduction of effective medical treatment for peptic ulcer disease, no decrease in the incidence of bleeding has been observed. Unfortunately, most incidence studies rely on a questionable case ascertainment and poor data. We therefore conducted a prospective study, to achieve an unbiased estimate of incidence and pattern of peptic ulcer bleeding in Düsseldorf (Germany). In a 1-year period all patients with endoscopically verified peptic ulcer bleeding who were admitted to the departments of internal medicine or surgery in nine hospitals or seen by nine general practitioners offering endoscopic service were included in the study. Incidence rates were calculated in accordance with sociodemographic variables and expressed per 100,000 person-years of observation. The overall incidence of peptic ulcer bleeding was 51.4, with almost even rates for gastric (26.5) and duodenal (24.9) ulcer. Age was associated with an increased likelihood of bleeding in gastric ulcer patients of 19 per decade from about 40 years onwards (duodenal ulcer, 15). The incidence was about twice as high in men as in women (relative risk = 1.9). The pattern of peptic ulcer bleeding was similar in gastric and duodenal ulcers with regard to ulcer size, multiple lesions, and bleeding activity at endoscopy. However, patients with gastric ulcer bleeding had significantly more often accompanying or underlying diseases. No significant differences were observed between gastric and duodenal ulcer bleeding with regard to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug intake and ulcer history. The incidence rates in our study are in the upper range of the literature and comparable to rates from the USA and UK both before and after the introduction of H2 blockers. We hypothesize that the persistently high incidence rate is a superposition of two trends: higher incidences due to a more elderly and diseased population and more NSAID intake, and lower incidences due to effective medical treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Formal decision aids in gastroenterology--results of a survey].

Formal decision aids such as scores, decision-trees and expert systems, are recommended for supporting research and daily clinical work. In the field for gastroenterology it is unknown, to which degree these tools are accepted and applied in clinical routine. We therefore conducted a mail survey in order to find out whether clinical gastroenterologists know, use or want formal decision-aids. To all clinical members of a german gastroenterological scientific society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Verdauungs- und Stoffwechselkrankheiten, n = 584) an information leaflet and a questionnaire was sent. The form contained questions about use, knowledge and requests with respect to decision-aids in gastroenterology and concerning the attitude to computerized decision-aids in general. 584 clinicians received the questionnaire, 215 sent it back for analysis (39%). Formal decision-aids were used by half of the survey participants (56%), mainly three scores (Child-Pugh, Best and other indices for inflammatory bowel disease, Ranson) and four classifications (TNM, Forrest, Savary-Miller, Paquet). Computer-based formal decision-aids (e.g. expert systems) were used by a minority. Clinicians, who applied formal decision-aids stated more frequently a request for further decision-aids (72%) than those who did not (46%). A considerable part of the survey participants believed that computerized decision-aids will come into clinical routine (52%) and will improve education (37%) and clinical practice (35%). 88% were convinced, that decision-aids should be tested in controlled clinical trials before a clinical use can be recommended. There is a discrepancy between propagation of formal decision-aids and it's clinical use. Only a few scores and classifications are used in clinical routine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed1992

[Acute abdominal pain--standardized findings as diagnostic support. Results of a prospective multicenter intervention study and testing of a computer-assisted diagnosis system].

Despite powerful diagnostic tools (e.g. ultrasound, special laboratory investigations), the diagnosis of acute abdominal pain is still a considerable problem. Several studies in the UK have shown that the diagnostic accuracy can be improved by structured and standardized history taking and clinical examination and by computer-aided diagnosis. In the framework of a concerted action of the European Community we have conducted a prospective multicenter interventional trial comparing two consecutive phases: a) a baseline phase in clinical routine without additional intervention, b) a test phase with structured and standardized history and clinical examination (questionnaire, documentation programme). In addition, a computer-aided diagnostic system developed in the UK was applied to the cases in the test phase. Outcome criteria were the diagnostic accuracy of the initial and the final examiner, the perforated appendix rate, the negative appendectomy rate, the negative laparotomy rate and the rates of diagnostic errors with missing indication to operation and of delayed urgent operations. No differences could be found between the phases with respect to the outcome criteria. In the baseline phase (test phase) diagnostic accuracy was 59% (59%), diagnostic accuracy after investigation (senior examiner) was 77% (78%), perforated appendix rate was 11% (16%), negative appendectomy rate was 13% (15%), negative laparotomy rate was 7% (8%), the rate of missed urgent indications to operation was 1.1% (1.9%) and the rate of delayed urgent operations was 3.4% (2.4%). Major differences between the centers were recorded. Computer-aided diagnosis resulted in a diagnostic accuracy of 51%. The introduction of structured and standardized history taking and clinical examination has not brought any improvement of the good results in clinical routine. It is doubtful, whether existing systems of computer-aided diagnosis are able to significantly decrease the still remaining error rate of 20%.

Abdomen, Acute↗
PubMed1991

[Clinical results of Palmer's primary cruciate ligament insertion without augmentation].

The clinical importance of primary cruciate ligament reconstruction without augmentation-plasty is discussed on the background of long term results following 51 operations. Based on standardized methods of evaluation 38 patients had a very good and good result, in eleven cases the operation lead to a fair and in two cases to a poor result. A significant instability with a pivot shift grade III was recorded in two cases: twelve patients showed a low degree of instability whereas 37 patients had regained full stability. The coincidence of a cruciate ligament lesion and a rupture of a collateral ligament had a negative influence on the postoperative long term result (p less than 0.01). Our results suggest that a primary repair without augmentation-plasty is a qualified procedure for stabilizing the knee joint in cases with an acute femoral rupture without accompanying collateral lesions. In patients with old ruptures or a complex joint lesion primary repair with augmentation is recommended.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗