Objective: To determine the efficiency of the developed expert system based on a set of qualitative signs of cell atypia and their weighting coefficients in the differential diagnosis of follicular cancer and follicular adenoma of the thyroid gland.
Study design: Sixty cytologic preparations of patients with histologic diagnosis of a follicular cancer and follicular adenoma were investigated.
Results: Weighting coefficients for each sign of atypia for both forms of pathology have been calculated with the help of the deduced equation. This allowed creating an expert system by which the function of transforming qualitative signs of cell atypia to a quantitative form was realized. "Strength reserve" according to the diagnostic index value, coincidence of the verified diagnosis with the histologic conclusion, and its invariability for all 12 iterations testified to the reliability of an expert system. Preliminary trials showed the efficiency of an expert system for differentiating the nature of a thyroid follicular tumor to be 97.5%.
Conclusion: The developed expert system allows high efficiency in making a differential diagnosis of thyroid follicular cancer and follicular adenoma.