Charles E. Kahn MD, MS, Presenter: Shareholder, Hotlight Inc Officer, Hotlight Inc

Dhiraj Baruah MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Joseph J. Budovec MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Gerald Cameron MS, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Stephen W. Goth BS, MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Cesar Augusto Lam MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Kaushik S. Shahir MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Matthew W. Shore MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Kenneth Chung-Yi Wang MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Co-founder, DexNote, LLC

Radiology "gamuts" -- lists of differential diagnoses of imaging observations -- are an important source of knowledge in diagnostic radiology. Although gamuts appear in radiology textbooks and online information resources, there has been little effort to develop a formal treatment of this form of knowledge. We sought to develop the Radiology Gamuts Ontology (RGO) as a comprehensive knowledge model of radiology differential diagnosis, to provide the ontology's knowledge to radiologists and others through an interactive Web site, and to integrate its knowledge with heterogeneous biomedical knowledge resources for research, education, and clinical decision support. 

The RGO contains more than 1,300 differential-diagnosis lists with 20,699 terms for disorders and imaging observations with 1,766 synonyms and abbreviations; it specifies 1,175 subsumption relations and 49,819 causal relations.  The RGO spans imaging findings in all organ systems and a variety of imaging modalities.  The ontology is made available primarily through an open, interactive web site (www.gamuts.net) where users can browse the terms, view their relationships to other entities, and follow hyperlinks to view the related concepts. The model's knowledge also can be accessed through a RESTful web service and a Web Ontology Language (OWL) document.

The Radiology Gamuts Ontology provides a form of “computable knowledge” for differential diagnosis in radiology, and has been applied to create an illustrated gamuts reference and a differential-diagnosis quiz generator.  The interactive Web interface allows information to be incorporated from other sources, such as Wikipedia, ARRS GoldMiner, and the biomedical literature.

Radiological knowledge, such as the relationships of medical conditions and their imaging manifestations, can be represented and shared through Semantic Web technologies. The Radiology Gamuts Ontology promotes integration of radiology differential diagnoisis with decision support systems, clinical image repositories, and the biomedical literature.

Kahn, C, Baruah, D, Budovec, J, Cameron, G, Goth, S, Lam, C, Shahir, K, Shore, M, Wang, K, A Comprehensive Ontology of Radiology Differential Diagnosis.  Radiological Society of North America 2013 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, December 1 - December 6, 2013 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2013/13021052.html