Artificial Intelligence in Medicine ELSEVIER Artificial Intelligence in Medicine 7 (1995) 25-36 NEUREX: a tutorial expert system for the diagnosis of neurogenic diseases of the lower limbs A. Starita a,*, D. Majidi a, A. Giordano a, M. Battaglia b, R. Cioni ’ zyxwvutsrqpo a Computer Science Department, University of Piss, Corso Italia 40, 56125 Piss, Italy b Intecs Sistemi S.p.A, Ea Gereschi 32, 56127Pisa, Italy ’ Clinic of Mental and Nervous Diseases, Policlinico le Scotte, University of Siena, Viale Bracci, 53100 Siena, Italy Received April 1994; revised August 1994 Abstract Specialist tutors have to transfer two types of knowledge to doctors who are specialising in a particular clinic: public declarative knowledge, including facts, notions, principles in that particular field; and their own private procedural knowledge acquired in years of direct experience. Embodying this knowledge into an expert system means that this information can be shared more rapidly, and tutoring is easier. This paper presents a tutorial expert system for neurological clinics which can emulate the diagnostic process of an expert neurologist for neurogenic diseases of the lower limbs, assist users in planning the optimal sequence of NG and EMG tests, interpret the results of these tests, and help users to achieve the most suitable diagnosis. Keywords: Expert system; Diagnosis; Tutor ability; Conceptual graphs; EMG-assistant 1. Introduction The tutorial method is usually considered as being the most suitable and efficient teaching method. This is particularly true for clinical teaching where students are involved in direct practical work under the guidance of a skilled teacher. Imparting clinical expertise is time consuming and requires hard work by skilled teachers who are usually busy and whose time is particularly precious. * Corresponding author. e-mail: Starita@di.unipi.it; Tel. (+ 39-50) 887215; Fax (+ 39-50) 887226. 0933-3657/95/$09.50 0 1995 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved SSDI 0933-3657(94)00024-7