FIELD E ; Pathology Code 



Columns 18, 19, 20, 21, 



22, 23, 24, and 25 



It seems improbable that coded etiologies will be found a highly useful index for chemical- 

 biological information, except in the case of infective organisms which represent specific "biological 

 systems" against which chemicals may be administered experimentally. CBCC interests are cen- 

 tered on biological conditions specifically treated by and/ or responding to (or caused by) chemicals. 

 In the case of treated non- infectious pathological conditions, the origin of that pathology is of 

 little significance, because it may be assumed that that initiating factor is not specifically treated 

 or responding. Etiologies of non- infectious diseases are incorporated in the coding scheme pre- 

 sented here essentially because it has seemed the only reasonable solution to the problem of clas- 

 sifying and identifying by code specific named pathology states treated. 



6. Part IV of the Pathology Code symbol (units 7 and 8, Columns 24 and 25 ) 



Certain specific causes of disease produce such unvarying pathology pictures that identification 

 of the causative factor is tantamount to identifying the disease; identifying infectious pathologies essen- 

 tially by coding in Field E only the etiological agent (the infecting organism) is based on this concept. 



However, in the reverse, there are a number of pathological states of given anatomical parts, 

 distinguished as pathology entities by standard nomenclature, which may have any of several causes. 

 To provide a fixed symbol for such a named pathology, regardless of the causative agent, Columns 24 

 and 25 are used for a coding distinction of diseases of the anatomical part coded in Columns 19, 20, 

 and 21 . Likewise, there are certain very general, yet uniquely named, pathological conditions that 

 can be associated with almost any anatomical part and caused by many etiological factors. 



Two types of entries are made in these final IBM columns of Field E, one being distinguished 

 by use of only numerical entries in Column 25, the other by only letter symbols in Column 25. 



Those entries of Columns 24 and 25 with only numerical symbols in Column 25 have no special 

 meaning except to distinguish named diseases of a given anatomical structure which might not be 

 distinguished by an etiology coded in Columns 22 and 23. For example, both "cough" and "dyspnea" 

 are pathologies of the respiratory system and each may result from any of several causes. A symbol 

 is constructed for each, with a nonspecific etiological part (Symbol 00 in Columns 22 and 23); the 

 symbols for the two conditions are distinguished by assigning Symbol 01, in Columns 24 and 25, to 

 "cough" and Symbol 02 for "dyspnea" (T500000J and T5000002, respectively). This type of entry 

 which is distinguished by a numerical symbol in Column 25 has no " fixed " meaning. Thus, Symbol 01 

 in Columns 24 and 25 designates "cough", or "glaucoma", or "diarrhea", depending on the entry in 

 Columns 1 9. 20, and 21. (Compare this with the second type of entry of Columns 24 and 25, which 

 has a fixed meaning, described below. ) 



Subsequently, when a symbol is constructed for a cough due to any one specific cause, Symbol 

 01 in Columns 24 and 25 is used with Symbol 500 in Columns 19, 20, and 21 (invariably indicating 

 "cough" when used together) and the nonspecific Symbol 00 in Columns 22 and 23 is substituted with 

 the symbol for the cause. This will constitute a new entry in the Pathology Code. 



By using two columns (24 and 25) and only numerical symbols in each, 99 named pathologies 

 can be distinguished for each anatomical structure coded in Columns 19, 20, and 21, in addition to 

 pathologies of that same anatomical structure which are adequately distinguished by coding only the 

 etiological factor in Columns 22 and 23. 



The second type of entry in Columns 24 and 25 (with letter symbols in Column 25) differs from 

 the first in that each symbol is given a fixed meaning, regardless of either the anatomy entry in 

 Columns 19, 20, and 21 or an etiological entry in Columns 22 and 23. These are ordinarily for certain 

 general pathological states which can occur in many anatomical parts (or in any part) and which may 

 have any one of many causes. A good example is the common "inflammation", which is always coded 

 with Symbol 0A in Columns 24 and 25 when it is the chief manifestation of a disease, regardless of the 

 site and etiology coded in Columns 19 through 23. A second such general condition, "shock", has 

 been assigned Symbol 0B, "congestion" has been assigned Symbol 0C, etc. It is suggested that 

 enough symbols for all such conditions needed by the CBCC (90 symbols) will be provided by using a 

 single IBM zone punch, the \Z_ zone punch, so that only letters A through I should be used in Column 25, 

 combined with any numerical symbol in Column 24. 



- 44 - 



