title: Extracting structured information from free text pathology reports.
abstract: We have developed a method that extracts structured information about specimens and their related findings in free-text surgical pathology reports. Our method uses regular expressions that drive a state-automaton on top of XSLT and Java. Text fragments identified are coded against the UMLS. This paper describes the technical approach and reports on a preliminary evaluation study, designed to guide further development. We found that of 275 reviewed reports, 91% were coded at least so that all specimens and their critical pathologic findings were represented in codes.
authors.affiliation: Regenstrief Intstitute and Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Gunther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schadow
authors.forename: Clement J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: McDonald
mesh_terms: D019992:Databases as Topic; D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D020407:Internet; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D010340:Pathology, Surgical / Q000145:classification*; D011381:Programming Languages; D017432:Unified Medical Language System