Report of the HIMSS-SIIM Enterprise Imaging Community Data Standards Evaluation Workgroup: Anatomic Ontology Assessment

Previously, the lack of a standard body part ontology has been identified as a critical deficiency needed to enable enterprise imaging. This whitepaper aims to provide a comprehensive assessment of anatomical ontologies with the aim of facilitating enterprise imaging. It offers an overview of the process undertaken by the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and Society for Imaging Informatics in medicine (SIIM) Enterprise Imaging Community Data Standards Evaluation workgroup to assess the viability of existing ontologies for supporting cross-disciplinary medical imaging workflows. The report analyzes the responses received from representatives of three significant ontologies: SNOMED CT, LOINC, and ICD, and delves into their suitability for the complex landscape of enterprise imaging. It highlights the strengths and limitations of each ontology, ultimately concluding that SNOMED CT is the most viable solution for standardizing anatomy terminology across the medical imaging community.