DXplain

DXplain is a Clinical decision support system (CDSS) available through the World Wide Web that assists clinicians by generating stratified diagnoses based on user input of patient signs and symptoms, laboratory results, and other clinical findings.Evidential support for each differential diagnosis is presented, along with recommended follow-up that may be conducted by the clinician to arrive at a more definitive diagnosis. The system also serves as a clinician reference with a searchable database of diseases and clinical manifestations.

History

Designed by the Laboratory of Computer Science at the Massachusetts General Hospital, work on DXplain began in 1984 with a first version being released in 1986. .

Educational tool

Use of DXplain as a tool for medical consultation has been common to some institutions since it fills a gap, particularly for medical students in clinical rotations, that is not adequately covered by textbook literature. The system's large knowledge base combined with its ability to formulate diagnostic hypotheses have made it a popular education tool for US-based medical schools; by 2005, DXplain was supporting more than 33,189 total users.