Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
In FMA the knee is represented by three different concepts, i.e. 'Knee', 'Knee
joint' (which is a subclass of 'synovial joint of free limb'), and 'segment of knee',
which is actually the structural description of knee. Oddly, these three representations
of the same concept are not linked with each other explicitly. The focus of FMA is
mainly to provide detailed terminology from the anatomic point of view and not to
provide significant connections among the involved classes. In fact, only the two
basic relations (i.e. 'is a' and 'part of') are considered. Many other initiatives such as
Bodyparts3D and My Corporis Fabrica use and extend FMA because of the richness
of its vocabulary.
13.3.3 RadLEX
Radlex
TM
[
17
] is a controlled terminology project by the Radiological Society of
North America (RSNA). Its aim is to provide a uniform or standard lexicon for index-
ing and retrieval of a variety of radiology data to be used for teaching, research and
reporting procedures. It also unifies and supplements other lexicons and standards,
such as SNOMED-CT and DICOM.
It describes all the important terminology in radiology related to anatomy, med-
ical devices, radiology reports, imaging modalities and protocols. The pathology
and imaging section describes in details the relationships between pathology and
the affected anatomical entity. Also, it makes an explicit connection to the visual
modality. In fact, it refences to a set of acquired images (MRI, MicroCT, CT etc.)
corresponding to anatomical entities in order to provide a visual representation of
canonical data that can be coupled with the radiologic terminology.
In RadLex, the most important concepts related to the knee are 'Knee' and 'Knee
Joint'. It provides a detailed structural description of 'Knee joint', like 'articular
surface of knee joint', 'ligament of knee joint', 'knee meniscus' (see Fig.
13.9
).
13.3.4 GALEN
The Generalized Architecture for Languages, Encyclopedias and Nomenclatures
(GALEN) in Medicine was produced during the 1990s by the University of
Manchester within the OpenGALEN project, a European Union Project that sought
to support reuse of information to integrate medical records, decision support and
other clinical systems. The GALEN project established the GALEN Common Refer-
ence Model (CRM) [
19
], an ontology formulated in a specialized description logic,
which uses the GALEN Representation and Integration Language (GRAIL) [
20
].
This ontology contains the building blocks for defining procedures (e.g. anatomy,
surgery, and diseases) and their modifiers used in the definitions of surgical proce-
dures. It does not give only the anatomical description but also the clinical act and
pathology in details for the body parts.
