Difficult diagnostic cases were solved by Google in most cases:

Hangwi Tang and Jennifer Hwee Kwoon Ng, doctors at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, in Brisbane, simply entered words from the case records into Google. The words reflected the symptoms described, and for each case they picked between three and five.

They then looked at the first three pages of the Google output “” thirty items “” and chose what seemed to be the most plausible of the diagnoses offered. In 58 per cent of the cases, Google came up with the right answer, or at least the same answer as given in the journal.

For example, when the case involved a 48-year-old man with multiple spinal tumours and skin tumours, the doctors searched Google by entering the words “multiple spinal tumours” and “skin tumours”. Google responded with items suggesting the man had neuro-fibromatosis type 1, the correct diagnosis.

I previously wrote about how I incorporated Google in my practice on a daily basis.