Development of an Expert System for Diagnosing Musculoskeletal Disease

Abstract

Musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs), encompasses various conditions affecting muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, and joints, resulting to pain, inflammation, and limited mobility, significantly impacting individuals' quality of life. Diagnosing these diseases poses a challenge for healthcare professionals due to symptom similarities with other conditions. To address this, the development of expert systems tailored for musculoskeletal diagnosis has emerged as a promising approach to enhance clinical decision-making and improve patient outcomes. This study aims at developing and evaluating an expert system for musculoskeletal disease diagnosis, by leveraging a knowledge base containing information on common musculoskeletal diseases and symptoms. The system utilized a combination of rule-based and machine learning techniques to provide diagnostic recommendations to physicians. Comparative analysis with experienced physicians, using a dataset of patients with known musculoskeletal diseases, revealed the expert system’s diagnostic accuracy of 92%, recall of 98%, Precision of 91%, F1-Score of 94% and a quicker diagnosis compared to physicians. Additionally, the system demonstrated ease of use and user-friendliness. This project focuses on predictive algorithms, leveraging expert systems dating back to the 1970s, emulating human expert decision-making, particularly in disease diagnosis. The development of an expert system for musculoskeletal disease diagnosis symbolizes the convergence of medical expertise, computer science, and artificial intelligence. By integrating machine learning, natural language processing, and decision support systems, these expert systems have the potential to revolutionize musculoskeletal healthcare delivery. In conclusion, our results show that expert systems hold promise in transforming clinical practice and improving patient outcomes in musculoskeletal healthcare through interdisciplinary collaboration and continuous innovation.