Tree Structure, Advanced Techniques

The basic decision tree is a graphical representation of a decision model consisting of nodes, branches, variables, and expressions. The standard node types are decision, chance, and terminal nodes. Since decision analysis first became widely used in healthcare, analysts have gradually extended the basic representation to include a number of advanced features that make models more flexible and versatile. This entry describes these advances and their use in decision modeling.

Branches and Bindings

A branch connects two nodes in the tree (Figure 1) and specifies a specific context. Each branch, or collective path of branches, between nodes in a tree represents a different clinical context, having potentially different probabilities of subsequent events, costs, and utilities. When such values are expressed in terms of symbolic expressions, any ...

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