Symbolic coordinate anatomy for neurology (SCAN).

Our laboratory is responsible for development and maintenance of CADUCEUS (Formerly INTERNIST-1), a computer program to provide expert advice to the clinician in the realm of medical diagnosis. In order to extend its success in internal medicine into neurology, it was necessary to provide a paradigm for neuroanatomic reasoning. In our anatomic knowledge base (SCAN), the nervous system is partitioned into a hierarchical set of nested cubes. In the computer memory, a symbol for each cube has attached to it lists of structures that are wholly or partially within the cube. The structures may be simple (e.g., right locus ceruleus) or complex (e.g., midbrain). Lists of cubes belonging to particular vascular territories as well as systems (e.g., visual) are also maintained. Thus, computation of anatomic localization from a given symptom or finding is facilitated as well as characterization of consequences of vascular lesions or neighborhood effects from mass lesions.