SIIM and HIMSS recommend SNOMED CT as standard anatomy terminology for imaging

Hi all,

SNOMED International is pleased to announce that the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) and the Healthcare Information and Management System Society (HIMSS) , following years of research and review of a number of existing ontologies, are recommending SNOMED CT to their members as the standard anatomy terminology for imaging.

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) - Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) Enterprise Imaging Community (HSEIC) identified anatomy as a crucial data element necessary to facilitate the consumption and interoperability of medical imaging data in 2019. The first paper, The Importance of Body Part Labeling to Enable Enterprise Imaging: A HIMSS-SIIM Enterprise Imaging Community Collaborative White Paper, was published in 2021. The HIMSS-SIIM Enterprise Imaging Community Data Standards Evaluation Workgroup conducted a comprehensive assessment of anatomical ontologies with the aim of facilitating enterprise imaging. They analyzed different ontologies and assessed their suitability for the complex landscape of enterprise imaging.

The result of the evaluation work is the whitepaper, "Report of the HIMSS-SIIM Enterprise Imaging Community Data Standards Evaluation Workgroup: Anatomic Ontology Assessment," published in June 2024. SNOMED CT received the highest possible marks for almost every criterion and use-case workflow step. The assessment ultimately concludes that SNOMED CT is the most viable solution for standardizing anatomy terminology across the medical imaging community.

Read the news release here .