FIELD E ; Pathology Code 



Columns 18, 19, 20, 21, 



22, 23, 24, and 25 



While the excellence of these standard lists favored the CBCC's acceptance of symbols of one 

 or the other for coding non-infectious pathologies, certain features did not recommend the adoption. 

 The following four points are discussed here, since they describe factors that made adopting symbols 

 of the classification schemes mentioned above inadvisable; at the same time, they are factors that in- 

 fluenced the development of the CBCC pattern of coding non-infectious pathologies. 



A. The CBCC made the initial decision to use Field E to identify the specific causative organism 

 (i. e. , etiology) in coding information about chemical treatment of infectious diseases. 

 Excluding infectious diseases reduced markedly the number of specific diseases for which 



a special Field E coding scheme would be needed to provide identifying code symbols. 



B. It will be noted that the CBCC collects only information on experimental testing of chemicals 

 on biological systems; furthermore, because some lines had to be drawn to make practical 

 limitations to the coverage of which the CBCC was capable in the beginning, general clinical 

 results have not as a rule been selected for coding. Even were clinical data to be compre- 

 hensively coded, the fact remains that, of the literally hundreds of specific conditions for 

 which non-infectious pathology symbols may be constructed, only a limited number will be 

 treated with chemicals experimentally, in spite of currently increasing chemotherapy 

 practices. 



C. Certain of the other fields of the Biology Code bear relationships to Field E so that information 

 about a pathology is coded in them which otherwise would need be incorporated into the 

 pathology symbol. Field T-2 exemplifies this, since a code entry in that field frequently 

 supplements a pathology symbol coded in Field E. Thus, by virtue of having Field T-2, the 

 CBCC Pathology Code has been relieved of the bulk of unique symbols which would be 

 necessary for specific symptoms of diseases (e. g., hemorrhage of ovary due to scurvy; 

 inflammation accompanying infection by a specific parasite; fever due to a specific poisoning; 

 etc. ). Likewise, use of Field H supplements pathology symbols so that frequently special 

 symbols need not be constructed for the condition of each specific organ in a specific 

 disease (e. g. , eczema of the arm; effects of frostbite on blood vessels ; effects on blood by 

 hookworm infection; etc. ). 



D. A fourth factor that should be pointed out is that of limitation of space on a single IBM 

 punched card. To leave coding space for all other factors of biological testing and confine 

 biology coding to a single card, only eight places (i. e. , only eight IBM punched card 

 columns) were reserved for a symbol for a pathology (or test organism or tumor). The CBCC's 

 purpose is primarily to record the results of experimental chemical treatment, using available 

 space of a single punched card for that experimental data; it is not to record full descriptions 

 of pathologies which might demand a coding scheme using an entire punched card. (See the 

 second paragraph of Division 3 below.) 



The factor of limited coding space on the IBM punched card, combined with the facts that the 

 CBCC Biology Code would need only a limited number of non-infectious pathology terms and that these 

 pathology terms would be supplemented by coding other than that in Field E, led to the formation of the 

 special CBCC Pathology Code. 



3. The CBCC pattern for coding identity of treated pathology is essentially a proposal, not actually 

 tested by use 



It must be emphasized that the CBCC has attempted coding very little information about exper- 

 imental chemotherapy of non-infectious pathology. A list of pathologies was compiled in the initial 

 stages of the development of the Biology Code to which symbols were assigned by a pattern that was 

 subsequently lost or forgotten. When the few occasions arose to do so, identification of non-infectious 

 pathologies was made according to this list. For practical reasons, that list has been abandoned. The 

 present scheme for coding non-infectious diseases, prepared for this published edition, must be regarded 

 only as a proposal which seems reasonable under the conditions impressed by the total CBCC coding 

 pattern and which would seem to satisfy the needs of the CBCC for its stated objectives and scope of 

 pathology coverage. 



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