A Comparison of Accuracy in Specialized Medical Search and General Search Engines for Retrieving Medical Image

This study aimed at comparing and determining the precision of general and specialized medical search engines for medical image retrieval. In an applied research using webometrics، 9 keywords of lung، cancers، and cardiovascular diseases and disorders were selected after consultation with Radiologist. Keywords were searched in general engines of Google، Yahoo and Bing and specialized engines of Omni MedicalSearch، GoldMiner، Searchingradiology and Yottalook. Data collection tool was a checklist، and statistical analysis was performed by SPSS and Chi-squaretest. The result of this study showed that among the specialized medical search engines and out of 945 image retrieval cases، Searching Radiology Engine had the most accuracy. Also، among the general searching engines، Yahoo was the most accurate with 73%. Based on Chi-squaretest، there was no significant difference in accuracy for each keyword in specialized and general search engines (P>0. 05). Omni Medical Search engine with 47%، Yottalook with 41% and Bing with 36% had the highest number of false drops، respectively. Google with 27%، Searching radiology with 26%، and Yahoo with 26% had the lowest number of false drops، too. Generally، among specialized search engines، Searchingradiology had the most accuracy، in addition، Yahoo were the most accurate among general search engines.