Decision-making studies in patient management: twenty years later.

This article surveys the contribution of decision analysis to diagnosis and treatment in medicine, beginning with a review of Dr. Lee B. Lusted's 1971 paper, "Decision-making studies in patient management." From this beginning methods of decision analysis were developed that were particularly appropriate to medical problems. The author reviews the effects of Dr. Lusted's interests in the field on subsequent research and publications, and critiques prophetic statements found in the early paper.