Health sciences is a new application field for our company. We see both the need and the opportunities to apply our expertise to help solve a variety of important problems. As a first step in this direction, we are currently doing in-house R&D to develop a sophisticated software tool to assist sports teams in managing player injuries, with major league baseball (MLB) as a starting point and eventually for other sports. The new tool is called the Bayesian Injury Analysis Program (BIAP).

Bayesian Injury Analysis Program (BIAP)

BIAP is being developed as a sophisticated decision aide that incorporates both historic injury data and expert opinion into a Bayesian network logic structure. Bayesian networks are a powerful mathematical tool with distinct advantages for dealing with complex problems of uncertainty when there is a significant historic database of the factors involved. BIAP will be the "knowledge engine" that makes all relevant injury information available in a user-friendly software program to treat at-risk patient groups. The injuries of interest include ligament sprains (elbow, knee, ankle), muscle-tendon strains (shoulder, upper leg), fractures (hand, wrist), and concussions. There are three stages of the injury problem to be analyzed: (1) injury occurrence, (2) injury diagnosis, and (3) injury recovery. An example MLB application, given a particular team and associated player characteristics, would be to estimate the probable number, severity, and lost time due to different types of injuries expected during the coming season.