title: Detecting Underspecification in SNOMED CT concept definitions through natural language processing.
abstract: Quality assurance and audit issues play a major role in maintening large biomedical terminology, such as SNOMED CT. Several automatized techniques have been proposed to facilitate the identification of weak spots and suggest adequate improvements.In this study, we address a well-known issue within SNOMED CT: Albeit the wording of many free-text concept descriptions suggests a connection to other concepts, they are often not referred to in the logical concept definition.To detect such inconsistencies, we use a semantic indexing approach which maps free text onto a sequence of semantic identifiers. Applied to SNOMED CT concepts without attributes, our technique spots refinable concepts and suggests appropriate attributes, i.e., connections to other concepts. Based on a manual analysis of random samples, we estimate that approximately 18,000 refinable concepts can be found.
authors.affiliation: Federal Technical University of Paraná (CPGEI/UTFPR), Curitiba, Brazil.
authors.forename: Edson
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pacheco
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stenzhorn
authors.forename: Percy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nohama
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paetzold
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schulz
mesh_terms: D000043:Abstracting and Indexing / Q000379:methods; D009323:Natural Language Processing; D012660:Semantics; D013358:Subject Headings; D039061:Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine