In the January 2020 release of SNOMED CT, quality improvement in the Body Structure Hierarchy include revision of concepts representing the abdomen and pelvis regions. Please find below an extract from the
SNOMED CT Release Notes of the coming Jan2020 Release.
Revision of concepts for abdomen and pelvis regions:
The relationships of the walls, cavities and contents of the abdomen and pelvis have undergone intensive review and re-work. The notion of ‘abdomen’ in clinical practice can vary between different specialties and circumstances; for example, ‘abdomen’ in natural language can be used to refer to, but not limited to, the following concepts:
- Abdominopelvic cavity
- Abdominopelvic cavity excluding the true pelvic cavity (Abdomen proper cavity)
- Abdominopelvic cavity and/or content (Intra-abdominopelvic structure)
- Intra-abdominopelvic structure excluding intra-pelvic structure of true pelvis
- Intra-abdominopelvic structure and/or anterior abdominal wall
- Intra-abdominopelvic structure and/or anterior abdominal wall, excluding intra-pelvic structure of
- true pelvis (Abdomen proper)
- Abdominal segment of trunk
- Abdominal cross-sectional segment of trunk
SNOMED International considers the most commonly used clinical variant referred to as ‘abdomen’ to be 818983003 |Structure of abdominopelvic cavity and/or content of abdominopelvic cavity and/or anterior abdominal wall (body structure)|, which in SNOMED CT is now the only concept using ‘Abdomen’ as a synonym. New concepts have been added to satisfy the requirements of imaging including:
- Structure of abdominal cross-sectional segment of trunk (body structure)
- Structure of pelvic cross-sectional segment of trunk (body structure)
- Structure of abdominopelvic cross-sectional segment of trunk (body structure)
- Structure of thoracic cross-sectional segment of trunk (body structure)
The different anatomical entities in this area have all been allocated a definition in order to bring clarity to this domain. A considerable number of definitions of disorders and procedures have been reviewed and rationalized according to these clearer principles. Further work on modeling updates for disorders and procedures, such as CT and MRI related to the abdomen has been planned for the next release.