Hierarchical Neural Networks for Partial Diagnosis in Medicine

Various domains require hierarchical classification. In medicine, learning partial diagnoses can be helpful when
time and information constraints are present. Hierarchical neural networks provide a good means to perform partial
diagnosis. We implemented a hierarchical backpropagation-based model for the domain of thyroid diseases, and com-
pared the results against those of nonhierarchical networks in terms of sensitivities and specificities.