Fuzzy Logic in Medicine

To say that Fuzzy Logic in Medicine, or FLM for short, is an important addi­ tion to the literature of fuzzy logic and its applications, is an understatement. Edited by two prominent informaticians, Professors S. Barro and R. Marin, it is one of the first books in its field. Between its covers, FLM presents authoritative expositions of a wide spectrum of medical and biological ap­ plications of fuzzy logic, ranging from image classification and diagnostics to anaesthesia control and risk assessment of heart diseases. As the editors note in the preface, recognition of the relevance of fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic to biological and medical systems has a long history. In this context, particularly worthy of note is the pioneering work of Profes­ sor Klaus Peter Adlassnig of the University of Vienna School of Medicine. However, it is only within the past decade that we began to see an accelerat­ ing growth in the visibility and importance of publications falling under the rubric of fuzzy logic in medicine and biology -a leading example of which is the Journal of the Biomedical Fuzzy Systems Association in Japan. Why did it take so long for this to happen? First, a bit of history.

The book covers recent developments in theory, methodologies and applications of fuzzy logic in medicine. A representative and diverse range of original and innovative topics are selected, giving an overall perspective of the current state and future trends in the field. Medical image processing, monitoring and control of anaesthesia, ECG and EEG signal processing are some of the application topics the book addresses. Emerging methodologies like fuzzy temporal representation of knowledge or rule acquisition extracted from medical data are also described. Undoubtedly those new frameworks will extend the use of fuzzy logic into different fields in medicine in the near future.