An Automated Parsing Routine for Diagnostic Statements of Surgical Pathology Reports

Cutaneous melanomas. The use of a computer to aid in the investigation of the disease

Up to 49 items of information for each of almost 1400 cases of cutaneous melanoma have been computerized. Some of the resulting clinical and research implications are mentioned as well as the ability to use the computer to file, and rapidly sort, several hundred melanoma references from around the World and also to co-ordinate the U.K. Melanoma Histology Club.

A computerized data bank of surgical pathology and cytopathology diagnoses. Structure and purposes

A computerized data bank was created to file the diagnoses from the Surgical Pathology and Cytopathology laboratories in a University Department of Pathology. The diagnoses are divided into separate diagnostic statements, coded according to SNOMed and stored on magnetic tapes. Coding procedures are made easier by the creation of a lexicon of diagnoses used. The use of additional keys, besides SNOMed codes, allows the retention of further information. Several programs perform many data-retrieval operations both routinely and on request in order to meet different goals in the fields of quality control, diagnosis, education and research. The system is characterized by low cost, flexibility and multi-purpose utilization.