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Biomedical subjects

E A Patrick

Publications and source records attributed to E A Patrick.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Expert learning system network for diagnosis of breast calcifications.

Breast calcification diagnosis was studied by using clinical findings and computerized image processing of a mammogram in a network of trained expert learning systems (Outcome Advisor [OA]). The system was tested with records not used for training and performance was compared with radiologist. The network was 72% accurate in classifying clusters of calcifications as malignant or benign over a set of test cases radiologists had considered "hard-to-diagnose calcifications," and referred for biopsy. The radiologists had decided to conduct biopsy by selecting an equal number of positive and negative cases for the test group; thus the radiologists' performance with respect to categories of benign versus malignant was constrained to be 50/50. Statistical analysis shows only a 2% probability that the observed accuracy of 72% was a chance performance in recognizing whether a cluster is benign or malignant. The feasibility of developing a network of OAs for diagnosing breast cancer integrating digital image processing of mammograms is promising.

Breast Diseases↗
PubMed1990

The Heimlich maneuver. Best technique for saving any choking victim's life.

The American Red Cross (ARC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) advocated backslaps, chest thrusts, and abdominal thrusts for 10 years after the Heimlich maneuver was introduced in 1974. Even after the Surgeon General in 1985 declared these methods to be "hazardous, even lethal," the ARC and the AHA continue to recommend backslaps and chest thrusts for infants under 1 year of age. ARC and AHA instructional materials that advocate use of these methods have not been recalled, and the public has not been warned of the dangers. One cause of the confusion about backslaps is the flawed belief that gas pressure alone removes a foreign body. In addition, there is lack of understanding that, compared with the Heimlich maneuver, the backslap produces an insignificant amount of the energy required to expel an object from the airway. In fact, the energy produced by the backslap drives the foreign object in the wrong direction, toward the lungs, while the energy produced by the Heimlich maneuver drives the object away from the lungs, toward the mouth. Backslaps and chest thrusts should be publicly recalled as a treatment for choking infants before further deaths and injuries occur. The Heimlich maneuver is the best rescue technique for treating choking victims of all ages.

Airway Obstruction↗