Semantic Alignment between ICD-11 and SNOMED CT

Jean Marie Rodrigues, David J. Robinson, Vincenzo Della Mea, James R. Campbell, Alan L. Rector, Stefan Schulz, Hazel Brear, Bedirhan Üstün, Kent A. Spackman, Christopher G. Chute, Jane Millar, Harold R. Solbrig, Kristina Brand Persson

Abstract: Due to fundamental differences in design and editorial policies, semantic interoperability between two de facto standard terminologies in the healthcare domain – the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and SNOMED CT (SCT), requires combining two different approaches: (i) axiom-based, which states logically what is universally true, using an ontology language such as OWL; (ii) rule-based, expressed as queries on the axiom-based knowledge. We present the ICD–SCT harmonization process including: a) a new architecture for ICD-11, b) a protocol for the semantic alignment of ICD and SCT, and c) preliminary results of the alignment applied to more than half the domain currently covered by the draft ICD-11.