FIELD E ; Pathology Code 



Columns 18, 19, 20, 21, 



22, 23, 24, and 25 



CODING OF PATHOLOGIES 



GENERAL DISCUSSION OF THE 

 CBCC PATHOLOGY CODE 



SECTION I: 

 INTRODUCTION 



1. General definition of patholog y; restriction of pathologies in the CBCC Pathology Code 



Disease or pathology is understood to define a condition deviating detrimentally from an 

 anatomically or physiologically "normal" state. In general, disease originates (1) from an invasion of 

 parasitic organisms (infectious diseases), (2) from damage by external physical forces (traumatic or 

 radiation diseases, e. g. ), (3) from insufficiency of any essential material such as a specific food, 

 oxygen, vitamins, etc. , (4) from chemical poisons, (5) from congenital defects, or (6) spontaneously 

 from no known external cause (idiopathic diseases, such as those associated with aging, spontaneous 

 atrophies and hypertrophies, certain inflammations, etc. ). Distinction is made hereafter between 

 infectious diseases and diseases of other etiological types (i. e. , types by origin) by referring to the 

 latter collectively as non-infectious diseases. This is by no means an absolute categorization; certain 

 forms of disease, notably tumors, might have any of several possible origins. 



In the Pathology Code of Field E, diseases of all etiological types are incorporated. The follow- 

 ing observations should be made, however. 



A. All tumors are organized into a special code for Field E, the Tumor Code, and therefore are 

 not included with the items of the Pathology Code. In the Tumor Code, no provision is made 

 for coding a tumor etiology specifically, even if known, although certain very general 

 etiological information about a tumor can be coded by symbols provided in another field, 

 Field F. 



B. In the Pathology Code, the non-infectious diseases (defined above) are organized and 

 assigned symbols as described in Section II. 



C. Names of infectious diseases (defined above) are included in the Pathology Code list for 

 convenience, but their symbols do not conform to the pattern for symbols of non-infectious 

 diseases. Infectious diseases and their symbols, taken from the Taxonomy Code of Field E, 

 are discussed later, in Division 2 of Section II. 



2. Coding of non-infectious pathologies; factors determining the CBCC coding pattern 



The most extensive and generally used classifications of diseases are to be found in the two 

 publications, Standard Nomenclature of Diseases and Operations (American Medical Association) and 

 Manual of the Internatio nal Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death 

 (World Health Organization)^ Both of these are the results of painstaking labor by highly qualified 

 medical specialists. Because they claim different objectives, the two classifications are organized 

 differently and their code symbols, though they are analogous, differ in structure and definition. 



1. Standard Nomenclature of Diseases and Operations, 4th Edition; R. J. Plunkett, M. D. , Editor, 



and A. C. Hayden, R. R. L. , Associate Editor; published for The American Medical Association; 

 McGraw-Hill Book Co. , Inc., 1952. 



2. Manual of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death, 



Sixth Revision of the International Lists of Diseases and Causes of Death, Adopted 1948; Bulletin 

 of the World Health Organization Supplement I, 1948. 



38 



