Object-oriented controlled-vocabulary translator using TRANSOFT + HyperPAD

Abstract

Automated coding of surgical pathology reports is demonstrated. This public-domain translation software operates on surgical pathology files, extracting diagnoses and assigning codes in a controlled medical vocabulary, such as SNOMED. Context-sensitive translation algorithms are employed, and syntactically correct diagnostic items are produced that are matched with controlled vocabulary. English-language surgical pathology reports, accessioned over one year at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, were translated. With an interface to a larger hospital information system, all natural language pathology reports are automatically rendered as topography and morphology codes. This translator frees the pathologist from the time-intensive task of personally coding each report, and may be used to flag certain diagnostic categories that require specific quality assurance actions.