loinc releasenotes

8/8/2019 LOINC Releasenotes

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LOINC Release Notes

+---------------------------+ Version 2.32 Released June 2010 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.32 contains 58,967 terms, an increase of 1,274 since the February 2010 version. Approximately 470 terms have been edited. A total of 1,612 terms have been deprecated.

This release contains a major enhancement to the STATUS field. In the past, thefield only had two concept values - null and DEL. With this release, there arefour concept values - ACTIVE (previously null), DEPRECATED (previously DEL),DISCOURAGED (new) and TRIAL (new). These are defined as follows:

ACTIVE: Concept is active. Use at will.TRIAL: Concept is experimental in nature. Use with caution as it may cha

nge. DISCOURAGED: Concept is not recommended for current use. New mappings tothis concept are discouraged, but existing mappings may still remain valid.

DEPRECATED: Concept is deprecated. Concept should not be used, but is retained in LOINC for historical purposes. The superseding concept is indicated wherever possible in the MAP_TO field.

Included in this release is a large number of DRUG/TOX terms requested by a toxicology and forensic testing laboratory and a number of new CARD.US terms for pediatic ultrasound.

+---------------------------+

Version 2.31 Released June 2010 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.31 was a limited release

+---------------------------+ Version 2.30 Released February 2010 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.30 contains 57,693 terms, an increase of 210 since the December

2009 version. Approximately 89 terms have been edited. A total of 26 terms havebeen deprecated.

This release includes further enhancements to newborn screening terms, updates to the OASIS-C and MDSv3 patient assessment instrument content, and refinement ofcommon laboratory panels made in collaboration with the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) and in support of HITSP C80.

+---------------------------+ Version 2.29 Released December 2009 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.29 contains 57,475 terms, an increase of 2,417 since the June 2009 version. Approximately 830 terms have been edited. A total of 1,546 terms ha


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ve been deprecated.

New content in this release includes further enhancements to Minimum Data Set version 3 (MDSv3), Outcome and Assessment Information Set version C (OASIS-C) andNewborn Screening terms.


LOINC version 2.28 was a limited release containing 57,312 terms.

+---------------------------+ Version 2.27 Released June 2009

+-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.27 contains 55,058 terms, an increase of 1,714 since the January2009 version. Approximately 685 terms have been edited. A total of 1,454 termshave been deprecated.

In this release we have expanded the LONG_COMMON_NAME field,to include all LOINCterms. This process that populates this field as well as the SHORT_NAME fieldwill continue to be modified over the next several releases. We welcome suggestions on how to improve to make more easily readable terms.

New content in this release includes additional Continuity Assessment Record andEvaluation (CARE) terms, Minimum Data Set (MDS) version 3, Patient Health Recor

d panels, Quality Health Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA), howRU survey, Public Health document, and addtional HL7 Clinical Genomics terms.

+---------------------------+ Version 2.26 Released January 2009 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.26 contains 53,344 terms, an increase of 932 since the July 2008version. Approximately 1,100 terms have been edited. A total of 1,426 terms have been deprecated.

This release includes a new field called LONG_COMMON_NAME, which is displays theLOINC term in readable English.

New content in this release includes more Newborn Screening tests, sets of termsused in HEDIS, US Surgeon General's Family Health History tool, and ContinuityAssessment Record and Evaluation (CARE) terms.


LOINC version 2.25 was a limited release.

+---------------------------+ Version 2.24


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Released July 2008 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.24 contains 52,412 terms, an increase of 1,603 since the December 2007 version. Approximately 800 terms have been edited. A total of 1,379 terms have been deprecated.

This release contains a few sets of terms, including automated urinalysis, newborn screening tests and detailed genetic testing template.


LOINC version 2.23 contains 52,400 terms. This was a limited release.

+---------------------------+ Version 2.22

Released December 2007 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.22 contains 50,809 terms, an increase of 2,209 since the June 2007 version. Approximately 500 terms have been edited. A total of 1,359 terms have been deprecated.

Several unused or obsolete fields have been removed from this version of the database. The collection of fields that stored mappings to related codes, example units of measure, and our earliest foreign language translations have been migrated out of the main LOINC table and are now stored in a more structured format within the RELMA.mdb database. In summary, there are now 43 fields in LOINC.mdb, instead of 63. Please see Appendix A of the LOINC User's Guide (LOINCManual.doc)

for more information on the structure of the database.


LOINC version 2.21 contains 48,600 terms, an increase of 1,788 since the December 2007 version. Approximately 2,250 terms have been edited. A total of 1,325 terms have been deprecated.


LOINC version 2.20 contains 48,045. This was a limited release.


LOINC version 2.19 contains 46,812, an increase of 1,270 since the June 2006 version. Approximately 12,750 terms have been edited. A total of 1,260 terms havebeen deprecated.


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There are a couple of major changes in this release.- The display of the major fields (component, property, system, scale & method)have been changed from upper case to mixed case for improved readability. The database is still case-insensitive.- The system for a number of laboratory terms are changed for easier reading. For instance, "UR" is now "urine", "FLU" is now "Body fld", "PCAR" is now "Perica

rd fld".



+---------------------------+ Version 2.17 Released June 2006

+-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.17 contains 45,542 terms, an increase of 3,043. Approximately 2,299 terms have been edited. A total of 1,220 terms have been deprecated.


LOINC version 2.16 contains 42,499 terms, an increase of 1,776. Approximately 1,000 terms have been edited. A total of 1,095 terms have been deprecated.


LOINC version 2.15 contains 40,723 terms, an increase of 2,415. Approximately 500 terms have been edited. A total of 1,076 terms have been deprecated.


LOINC version 2.14 contains 38,308 terms, an increase of 2,640. New Radiology terms account for 2,226 of the new records. Approximately 1,800 terms have beenedited. A total of 1,049 terms have been deprecated.

+---------------------------+ Version 2.13 Released August 2004 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.13 contains 35,668 terms, an increase of 828. Approximately 1675 terms have been edited. A total of 1035 terms have been deprecated. This release does NOT include ~2200 radiology terms that have been created, but are stil

l being developed.

+---------------------------+


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Version 2.12 Released February 2004 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.12 contains 34,840 terms. This is an increase of 1,146 since the October 2003 release. A total of 1012 terms have been deprecated (STATUS = DEL). Approximately 1300 terms have been edited.

A few new panel classes have been added to the database.

A new field, ORDER_OBS, has been added. This is used to define a term as orderonly, observation only, or both. A fourth category, Subset, is used for terms that are subsets of a panel but do not represent a package that is known to be orderable we have defined them only to make it easier to maintain panels or othersets within the LOINC construct.

+---------------------------+ Version 2.11 Released January 2004

+-------------------------- +


+---------------------------+ Version 2.10 Released October 2003 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.10 contains 33,694 terms, an increase of 450. A total of 978 have been deprecated (STATUS = DEL). Approximately 600 terms have been edited.

+---------------------------+

Version 2.09 Released May 2003 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.09 contains 33,694 terms, an increase of 1532. A total of 961 have been deprecated (STATUS = DEL).

The following new classes have been added to the database:DENTALDOC.CLINRPTDOC.REFPATH.PROTOCOLS

Approximately 1800 terms have been edited since the release of version 2.07.

*********************** IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT ***********************Since version 2, the LOINC database has been distributed in a Microsoft Access97database. Microsoft ended most support for Access97 on August 31, 2001 and is dropping all remaining support on January 16, 2004. Therefore, we are beginning the process of converting from Access97 to Access2002. Within the next year or two LOINC and RELMA will be distributed in the new format.

If you just use the RELMA program, this change should be completely transparent.However, if you access the database directly or through some other program, this change may cause incompatibilities. We are hoping that by giving this advance

notice, you will be able to avoid any problems. If you would like to discuss this issue with LOINC/RELMA developers, please e-mail [email protected]


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For more information on Microsoft life cycle support, go to:http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];lifeOffice*********************** IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT ***********************

+---------------------------+ Version 2.08 Released September 2002

+-------------------------- +

An additional 116 records were added to the database since the creation of version 2.07.

+---------------------------+ Version 2.07 Released August 2002 +-------------------------- +

LOINC version 2.07 contains 32,046 records, an increase of 1457 terms since therelease of version 2.04. Of these, 921 have been deprecated (STATUS = DEL).

A new field called Shortname has been added. The fully specified LOINC name islong and sometimes awkward, so we don't envision it being used as the label forstandard clinical reports and have rules for naming orderable results. Over thelast 7 years we have had many requests for a universal "short name" that could be used in HL7 messages and, perhaps on delivered reports. In this release we include our first attempt at the developing of such short names. At this stage wehave limited the scope of this effort to laboratory tests excluding challenge tests, which have particularly long names that can be difficult to squeeze into aspecified limit. The LOINC committee recommended that the short name be no morethan 30 characters in length. We have not quite made the limit in all cases andor still working to improve the meaningfulness and the fit of these LOINC shortnames. We recommend these names be sent along with the LOINC code and as the 2nd

part of the HL7 CE data type in HL7 messages. These short names are unique, butthey are subject to change as we develop better algorithms for generating shortnames.

The terms in the classes of DRUG and TOX have been moved to a new class DRUG/TOX. Terms in the classes of BC and HEM have been moved to a new class HEM/BC.

Approximately 6000 term have been edited since the release of version 2.04. This includes the terms that were moved to the new classes.


This was a special release of the database. No significant changes were made.


Since the release of LOINC version 2.04, 9 new terms have been added to the database and a few records have had minor edits.

+---------------------------+ Version 2.04

Released January 2002 +-------------------------- +


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LOINC version 2.04 contains 30,589 records, an increase of 1267 terms. Of these854 have been deprecated (STATUS = DEL).

A new field, RelatedNames2 has been added to the database. It contains synonymsfor all parts of the fully specified LOINC name (component, property, time, system, scale, method). It may eventually replace #8, Relat_NMS. This is the field that is being used by RELMA 3.5.

A major revision of Allergy terms has been undertaken. In the past (prior to LOINC vs 2.04), we used the common name, rather than the scientific name to identify the allergen. However, this approach led to some duplicate term definitions,because two different companies would name the same allergen differently. It also led to ambiguity because two different species of animal or plant would sometimes have the same common name. This year we corrected these problems.

One new class, VACCIN, has been added to the database.

In addition to the creation of the RelatedNames2 field creation, more then 2800records were edited since the release of version 2.03.

+---------------------------+ Version 2.03 Released July 2001 +-------------------------- +

LOINC:


A new field SUBMITTED_UNITS has been added to the database. It contains the units that submitters have sent to us when they request a new term. The terms in t

he existing EX_US_UNITS field has been standardized to more closely resemble those used in HL7 version 3.

The following new classes have been added to the database:ATTACH.RESPPANEL.ABXBACTPANEL.TOXEYE.VISUAL_FIELDEYE.USEYE.TONOMETRYEYE.RETINAL_RXEYE.REFRACTIONEYE.PXEYE.GLASSESEYE.CONTACT_LENSEYE.HETEROPHORIA

More then 2500 records were edited since the release of version 2.00


LOINC:Added missing fields to tab-delimited version; remove one field from the Accessdatabase version; removed a line break from one field in one record.


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LOINC:


New fields added to the LOINC database:CSCQ_ITLN_NM Italian translationCSCQ_GRMN_NM German translationSPNSH_NM Spanish translation (for future use)SURVEY_QUEST_TEXT for use with Survey domainsSURVEY_QUEST_SRC for use with Survey domainsUnitsRequired for use with Claims Attachments

Additions to the LOINC database:

Class N Comments----- - -----------ABXBACT 72 AFB susceptibilityALLERGY 95ATTACH 3ATTACH.CARD 1ATTACH.CLINRPT 42ATTACH.ED 1ATTACH.GI 1ATTACH.LAB 6ATTACH.OBS 1ATTACH.REHAB.ABUS 44 new classATTACH.REHAB.CARDIAC 44 new class

ATTACH.REHAB.NURS 44 new classATTACH.REHAB.OT 44 new classATTACH.REHAB.PT 44 new classATTACH.REHAB.RT 44 new classATTACH.REHAB.SOCIAL 44 new classATTACH.REHAB.RESP 1 new classBC 93 "methodless" countsCELLMARK 38CHAL 326CHEM 688COAG 22CYTO 1DRUG 48ENDO.GI 20FERT 2HEM 13HLA 2MICRO 438MOLPATH.MUT 2MOLPATH.TRINUC 1OPTHO 466 new classRAD 348SERO 39SPEC 2SURVEY.NURSE.HCC 26 new class

SURVEY.NURSE.HIV-SSC 26 new classSURVEY.NURSE.LIV-HIV 37 new classSURVEY.NURSE.OMAHA 40 new class


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SURVEY.NURSE.QAM 11 new classTOX 178UA 14

New class type, 4, was added to represent SURVEY terms

Changes to Existing LOINC terms:

More then 1500 records were edited since the release of version 1.0O.* added or edited related names, example units and/or example answer fields* removed example units which do not correlate with the property (created new terms to correspond to the example units)* for some tests that could be performed on either serum or plasma, the propertyof SER or PLAS was changed system to SER/PLAS* standardized component names* since it is implied that the system is from the patient, we removed ^PATIENT from for a number of terms (e.g. PPP^PATIENT becomes PPP)* edited component format of challenge tests to ensure uniformity of the models* edited property of numerous COAG terms to reflect what is actually being reported

* changed RUBEOLA VIRUS to MEASLES VIRUS to reflect official nomenclature* changed PAPILLOMA VIRUS to HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS to reflect official nomenclature* changed SALMONELLA PARATYPHOID to SALMONELLA PARATYPHI to reflect official nomenclature* changed U to UG to correct an obvious typographic error in FOLLITROPIN^POST LUTENIZING RELEASING HORMONE series.* "polished-up" clinical and claims attachment terms* added value of "TITER" to the EX_US_UNITS field for terms with property = TITR* added value of "%" to the EX_US_UNITS field for terms with property = *FR (CFR, NFR, MFR, SFR, etc.)

Retired terms:Fifty-nine(59)duplicate terms have been marked "DEL" in the STATUS field.

DOCUMENTATION:The LOINC User's Guide has been updated to include the changes to the database.The RELMA Manual has been updated to reflect the current version of RELMA.

RELMA

Major changes have been made to the RELMA program.There is a separate Release Notes document for RELMA.

+---------------------------+ Version 1.0O Released June 13, 2000 +-------------------------- +

LOINC:

LOINC version 1.0O contains 24,730 records. Of these, 24,194 are active the other 536 have been deprecated (STATUS = DEL). This is an increase of 1034 new terms.

This version introduces the concept of order sets. These have the class of PANE

L.xx and the word "PANEL" is in the component field. A new field added to the database called PanelElements contains a list of the individual tests that are associated with the order set.


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Additions to the LOINC database:Class N Comments----- - -----------ALLERGY 111ATTACH 1ATTACH.ED 2

BC 4BLDBK 1CELLMARK 4CHAL 8CHEM 101 including ~50 terms for lysosomal enzymesCOAG 10DRUG 2HEM 2MICRO 275 16 veterinary termsMOLPATH.MUT 3PANEL.BC 6 Hematology blood count order setsPANEL.CHEM 34 Chemistry order sets

PANEL.MICRO 5 Microbiology serology order setsPANEL.OBS 1 Order set for obstetrics (more than one lab)PANEL.SERO 1 Serology order setPANEL.UA 4 Urinalysis order setsRAD 512 this is a new class for radiological studiesSERO 20SPEC 1TOX 3TUMRRGT 3UA 1US.ECHO 10


One thousand, four hundred and sixty-three (1463) records were edited since therelease of version 1.0N.* Changed system "SER^PATIENT" was to "SER" for blood group antibodies to reflect the fact that the patient is the default.* The method "FLOW CYTOMETRY" was changed to "FC" to ensure consistency of methods.* Related names were added to numerous records.* For CD markers, "LYMPHOCYTES" was changed to "CELLS". This was done to reflect the fact that the markers are not always found on lymphocytes.* Corrected numerous spelling errors.* Standardized terminology for property, system, method.* Edited some terms that were actually synonyms of other components.* Minor name changes include removing spaces and adding dots (.).* System was changed for many clinical terms.

Retired terms:Fifty-three (53) duplicate terms have been marked "DEL" in the STATUS field.

DOCUMENTATION:

The LOINC User's Guide has been updated to include the changes to the database.The RELMA Manual has been updated to reflect the current version of RELMA.

RELMA:

Version 2.1 Release date: June 13, 2000


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1. The LOINC detail screen (available by right clicking in the mappinggrid) now uses a tabbed dialog format.

2. Corrected a problem that caused duplicate entries in the KEYWORDtable when a term had an ACS_synonym that was also a part of the LOINCname.

3. The grid on mapping screen has been modified to display parts of theLOINC name in separate columns. Both the column width and row height areadjustable.

4. The grid on the mapping screen can be sorted by "clicking" on theheader row of any column. The fist click will sort the data in ascendingorder, subsequent clicks will toggle the sorting between ascending anddescending order.

5. The tab order of the fields on the MAP screen has been corrected tothe more standard left-to-right top-to-bottom order.

6. The new "Size Grd" button on the mapping screen will automaticallysize the results grid so that all text will be displayed. Note - thisprocess can be time consuming if there are more than several hundredrows to size.

7. The mapping function now has the optional capability of limitingsearch results to LOINC codes that are compatible with the units fieldof the LMOF. To utilize this function you must include UNITS whenimporting your local code set into the LMOF table. See the RELMA usermanual for addition details.

+---------------------------+ Version 1.0N Released February 4, 2000 +-------------------------- +

LOINC:

LOINC version 1.0N contains 23,614 records. Of these, 23,160 are active the other 454 have been deprecated (STATUS = DEL). This is an increase of 1863 new terms.

Additions to the LOINC database:Class N Comments----- - -----------ABXBACT 46 includes 4 new antibiotics, 27 terms with method of AFB and

12 "methodless" codesALLERGY 25BC 9CHAL 19 xylose challengeCHEM 133 Includes SCNC for existing components and veterinary termsCOAG 1DRUG 7 Includes SCNC for existing componentDRUGDOSE 3 2 codes added for ESRD;

HEM 15HLA 1MICRO 1531 Includes 543 "methodless" antibody codes and 953 veterinary t


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ermsSERO 8TOX 47TUMRRGT 5 PATH REPORT terms


Nine hundred and fifty five (955) records were edited since the release of version 1.0M.* Class type was changed from "3" to "1" for 55 terms.* Related names were added to a number of terms.* The abbreviation "HR" was changed to "H" to represent "hours" in the componentfield to make all terms consistent.* The component name mammotropin was changed to prolactin to reflect the commonly used name.* Chlamydia pneumoniae and Chlamydia psittaci were changed to the Chlamydophilapneumoniae and Chlamydophila psittaci, respectively, to reflect the current official nomenclature. Chlamydia was added to the related names field.

Retired terms:Twenty-three (23) duplicate terms have been marked "DEL" in the STATUS field.

DOCUMENTATION:

This release has documentation only in Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF formats. Nosignificant changes have been made to either the LOINC User's Guide or the RELMA Manual. Updated documentation will be available in the next release.

RELMA:

Version 2.0 Release date: February 4, 2000

1. Problems corrected from version 1.211.1 Corrected a problem where certain combinations of CLASS and SUBCLASS restrictions erroneously returned "No Match" when there did exist records that met thesearch criteria.1.2 Corrected a problem that caused error messages when printing under certain conditions.

2. Significant changes to program:2.1. The program was ported from 16-bit Visual Basic version 4 to 32 bit Visualbasic 6.0. As a result RELMA will no longer install or run under Windows 3.1.2.2. The underlying MS Access databases used by RELMA have been converted from MS Access 2.0 to MSAccess97. You can no longer use Access 2.0 to view or modify the RELMA databases.2.3. The setup program now uses the Microsoft CAB style setup files. Additionally, the LOINC database, LOINCACS.MDB is no longer stored as a separate ZIP filewithin the setup files. Instead, it is compressed as part of the CAB file. Therefore, the PKUNZIP utility is no longer supplied with the distribution. As partof the installation process one or more VB 6 specific Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL) may need to be installed on your machine. Installing these DLLs will require a reboot of the machine and should be considered a normal part of the installation process.

3. New features in the 32-bit version:

3.1 The program has a new icon.3.2. The mapping screen is now scalable.3.3. The "/" forward slash character is now treated a special delimiter and is r


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eplaced by a SPACE for indexing and keyword search operations. This corrects aproblem in version 1.21 where the keyword SER would not return records with a system of SER/PLAS.3.4. After clicking the Clear All button the cursor is now automatically placedin the 1st keyword text box.3.5. The access key for the "Clear All" button on the "LOINC Input Form" form has been changed from ALT+C to ALT+A to remove the conflict with the access key fo

r the "Find Local Code" button.

4. Instructions to run on 16 bit version using database in Access 2.0:4.1. Find Database folder on CD and select the file LOINCV2 and copy.4.2. Locate directory where RELMA is installed and paste LOINCV2 into this folder.4.3. Rename LOINCV2 to LOINCACS.4.4. Run RELMA by double clicking on RELMA.EXE Program will run, but warn userthat "latest database version is not found." Click "OK" on the dialog box and program should proceed to main menu form. The number of LOINC codes should appear at the top of the form in parenthesis.4.5. WARNING: Do not use the 32-bit version of database with RELMA version 1.21

or less. The 16-bit version of Access is supplied as a bridge for Microsoft Windows 3.1 users. We advise loading the 32-bit version of RELMA.

ADOBE ACROBAT:

This CD contains the Adobe Acrobat4.0 reader. To install the reader, simply runthe program ACRD4ENU.EXE (located in the Acrobat directory) and follow the instruction that appear on your screen. The reader is also available, free of charge,at www.adobe.com.

+-------------------+ Version 1.0Ma Released 08/06/99

+------------------ +

LOINC:

LOINC Version 1.0Ma contains 21,741 records. Of these, 452 are "retired" (STATUS=DEL) and 21,290 are active. This is an increase of 1,890 total terms and 1,866active terms from LOINC 1.0L. As usual we have added new terms across a wide range of laboratory classes. This release includes our first batch of molecular genetic terms (more than 200), LOINC variables developed in collaboration with NAACCR for tumor registry, and terms developed in collaboration with HL7 AttachmentSIG for electronic claims attachments.

We apologize for a number of errors in the release of version M we sent you early in July and to anyone who received copies of this data. The Word version of the user's guide had formatting errors due to a last minute (and un-noticed) conversion from one version of Word to another. We have corrected this error. More than 20 records contained fields with embedded CR/LF characters. These would notbe a problem to users of the ACCESS database, but would cause problems to most applications that import the ASCII tab delimited file into anotherdata base. We have removed the offending CR/LFs. A few records did not have theright class designators and a number of Attachment records did not get the new LOINC class type designator of 3 so you would not find them if you restricted your search to the Attachment class type. Finally, the word index for the releaseof RELMA was not sorted properly before it was installed. Hence the list of matching options would not appear in alpha order by component, property, timing, sys

tem, etc, as it had in the past. These are all corrected in this"re-release" which we are calling Version 1.0Ma.


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This version includes the first release of any terms dedicated solely to Claimsattachments. There are a few known minor imperfections in the naming of some ofthese Attachment terms. Because documents containing these minor problems are already working their way through a release of proposed federal regulations, we thought it better to deal with these when we receive comments about the proposed regulations to avoid differences the LOINC data base and the documents that are undergoing review.

DOCUMENTATION:

This is the last release that will include documentation in Wordperfect format.In the future, documentation will be provided in Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF formats.

RELMA:

Some users complained that the local description text box did not enable to viewa complete description when it was longer than would fit in the text box. The u

ser can now move the cursor to this field, double-click it, and a popup window shows the full local code description.

Known problems with RELMA

1. Applying a "Class Restriction" with no "Sub Restriction" will cause an erroneous "no Match" error. To avoid this behavior, always specify a "Sub Restriction" when using the "Class Restriction." This problem will be corrected in the next release.

2. In some situations, using a "Sub Restriction" will not properly limit the search results to the specified class. This problem will be corrected in the next

release.

+-------------------+ Version 1.0M Released 07/23/99 +------------------ +

LOINC Version 1.0M contains 21,741 records. Of these, 452 are "retired" (STATUS=DEL) and 21,290 are active. This is an increase of 1,890 total terms and 1,866 active terms from LOINC 1.0L. As usual we have added new terms across a wide range of laboratory classes. This release includes our first batch of molecular genetic terms (more than 200), LOINC variables developed in collaboration with NAACCR for tumor registry, and terms developed in collaboration with HL7 AttachmentSIG for electronic claims attachments.

Some users complained that the local description text box did not enable to viewa complete description when it was longer than would fit in the text box. The user can now move the cursor to this field, double-click it, and a popup window shows the full local code description.

+-------------------+

Version 1.0L Released 02/12/99 +------------------ +


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LOINC Version 1.0L contains 19,849 records. Of these, 424 are "retired" (STATUS=DEL) and 19,425 are active. This is an increase of 4,386 total terms and 4,214 active terms from LOINC 1.0K.

Additions and Changes to Database

ABXBACT

For 146 existing antimicrobials, a methodless term has been added, of the form ANTIMICROBIAL "X":SUSC:PT:ISLT:ORDQN.

19 terms added for acid fast and topical susceptibilities.

ALLERGY

665 added terms, of which 579 represent a new subset of terms to report "Rast Classes" (an ordinal measure of allergen IGe response ranging from zero to six). T

hese are of the form "ALLERGEN" AB.IGE.RAST CLASS:ACNC:PT:SER:ORD.

BC

38 new terms, largely already-represented cell types and fractions on new systems (synovial fluid, amniotic fluid, CSF, unspecified fluid).

BLDBK

9 new terms.

CELLMARK

153 new terms of the type LYMPHOCYTES.CDn and LYMPHOCYTES.CDn/100 LYMPHOCYTES, either existing markers on FLU (instead of BLD) or newmarkers on BLD.

144 terms specified as "CDn:ACNC:PT:WBC:QN" retired because they were incorrect.Most have direct replacements among terms with syntax"LYMPHOCYTES.CDn:NCNC" or"LYMPHOCYTES.CDn/100 LYMPHOCYTES:NFR".

CHAL

175 new terms; many of these enable the reporting of sequential specimens (e.g.,"ANALYTE"^NTH SPECIMEN POST...) and unspecified challenges (e.g., "ANALYTE^POSTXXX CHALLENGE").

CHEM

511 new terms. Additions include new specimens on existing analytes(mainly UR, both point and timed, FLU, PLR, and VITF (vitreous fluid)); SCNC versions of MCNCmeasures; enzymes on RBCs, the addition of BLDMV (mixed venous blood) in bloodgas measures; tumor markers on PLR and AMN; proteins and protein fractions (albumin, globulins, etc.) on UR and FLU; MCNC electrolyte measures.

COAG

16 new terms, mostly method differentiations.

CYTO

19 new terms, including 11 terms to transmit Pap smear results according to the


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Bethesda system.

DRUG

300 new terms, largely existing analytes on new systems (UR and FLU).

EKG

This is a new class, with 76 terms to represent standard measures from EKG carts.

HEM

31 new terms, including new hemoglobin subtypes and new systems for deoxyhemoglobin.

MICRO

559 new terms. Additions includes new systems (CSF, FLU) on existing microorganisms, new culture types for "MICROORGANISM IDENTIFIED" terms (e.g., catheter tip

culture, blood aerobic culture, acute respiratory distress culture, new systemsfor MICROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS, including various fine needle aspirates; method differentiations (CF, LA).

PULM

New class, containing 338 terms describing ventilator management.

SERO

141 new terms. New methods on SER (IF, RODENT SUBSTRATE) ; new systems (FLU); ORD measures for which we previously had only QN.

SPEC

This is a new class to which we have moved the terms having to do with characteristics of specimens such as volume, mass, collection date/time, etc. 17 new terms.

TOX

628 new terms. This includes a systematically generated group of 340 new terms to flesh out drug-of-abuse screen and confirm reporting, including information onvariable cutoff thresholds. This system is explained more completely in the LOINC Users' Guide. The other additions include new specimens (FLU, TISS, VITF, AMN, FOOD, MILK) and timed urine specimens for various occupational and environmental toxins such as acetone, mercury, manganese, etc.

US.ECHO

New class, containing 410 terms, for recording cardiac echo measurements.

Four new fields have been added to the LOINC database, and some previously included fields have been removed or altered. A full list is provided below; those fields which have been changed are marked with an asterisk. For the first time inthis release, some fields are defined as type "Memo" -- this is a Microsoft Database field type which allows variable length up to 32,000 characters.

1 LOINC_NUM2 COMPONENT3 PROPERTY


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4 TIME_ASPCT5 SYSTEM6 SCALE_TYP7 METHOD_TYP8 RELAT_NMS9 CLASS10 SOURCE

11 EUCLIDE_CD12 ASTM_CD13 IUPAC_CD14 DT_LAST_CH15 CHNG_REAS16 CHNG_TYPE17 COMMENTS*18 ANSWERLIST Memo -- (was Char/254)19 STATUS20 MAP_TO*21 SCOPE Char 20 (was length 254)22 SNOWMED_CD

23 VA_CD24 METPATH_CD25 HCFA_CD26 CDC_CD27 NORM_RANGE28 EX_US_UNITS29 IPCC_UNITS*30 GPI_CD Char 100 (was length 11 -- contents of GPI_CD

TOT moved to this field and GPI_CD_TOTremoved)

* GPI_CD_TOT Removed*31 REFERENCE Memo -- (was Char/254)*32 EXACT_CMP_SY Char 50 (was length 254)

33 MOLAR_MASS34 IUPC_ANLT_CD* ANSWERLST2 Removed* ANSWERLST3 Removed35 CLASSTYPE36 FORMULA37 MULTUM_CD38 DEEDS_CD*39 CSCQ_FRNCH_NM Char 100 (was length 255)40 SPECIES41(new fields)*42 ACSSYM Memo -- Chemical name synonyms, alternative

name synonyms, and chemical formulaesupplied by the Chemical AbstractSociety Synonyms derived from theAmerican Chemical Society database

*43 MOLEID Char 15 Molecular structure ID, usually CASnumber

*44 BASE_NAME Char 50 Chemical base name from CAS*45 FINAL Char 1 Internal LOINC Use only

RELMA Updates

Despite the more than 4000 new records in the LOINC database and the even larger

increase in the word index (which now contains almost 315,000 entries, one foreach unique word and LOINC number), we have shrunk the size of the RELMA package(now 68 megabytes) and improved the lookup speed considerably. This is due in


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part to more specificity in the inclusion of index words in the word index file.We take pains to enter a word only once in the word index for a given record,

no matter how many times it might be repeated in the indexable records. We havealso used a special mechanism for indexing words found in the ACM synonym list,which is very extensive and includes a host of brand names, even for non-drug products that contain substances that are included in LOINC test names. For example, Warfarin is a component of a variety of rodent poisons, and brand

names for those poisons are included in the ACS synonym list.

We have always translated special characters such as "^", "/" and "." that may be found in the LOINC names into blanks for the purpose of the indexing and searching within RELMA. The only exception is that we keep decimal points that are parts of a decimal number. E.g., we do not convert "5.6" into "5 6". We may havehad an error in this process in past releases, such that some slashes were retained, with the effect that a few phrases may not have been separated into singlewords for indexing purposes. The downside of our removing these special characters is that they do not appear in the list of matched LOINC records. (They willappear when you do a look up on the specific terms because that goes directly to the original LOINC field.)

Though we believe we do not now include the same word more than once in the index for a given LOINC record, you can do a search and find the same LOINC record represented more than once in the list of LOINC record matches. This should onlyoccur with some wild card searches. For example, a searched for "AB*" would find a match with "Abalone" and "AB". So you may have duplicate records in the table of matches. You can eliminate such duplicates by pressing the dup button onthe RELMA mapping screen.

The items in the list of potential matches will now be sorted alphabetically byLOINC name, this will make it easier to visually find a particular term when thelist of matches is long.

LOINC User's Guide

We have made a number of changes to the LOINC manual explaining our approach tosome naming more fully (especially to toxicology naming), adding terms to tablesand correcting small errors. Katherine Mercer from Laboratory Services, Ontario Ministry of Health, has been especially helpful with her careful reading andsuggestions for edits. Also, she noted a number of examples that are not now reflective of real terms in the database.

We appreciate everyone's patience on the slow gestation of this version. In thenext release we hope to have a good starting set of terms for molecular pathology testing, a beginning on test order sets, terminology needed for tumor registry reporting, and an expanded set of terms required for testing in veterinary medicine.

+-------------------+ Version 1.0K Released 05/01/98 +------------------ +

LOINC Version 1.0K contains 15,464 records. Of these, 253 are"retired" (STATUS=DEL) and 15,211 are active. This is an increase of1,999 total terms and 1,881 active terms from LOINC 1.0J-a

Additions Summary


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Class N Description----- - -----------ALLERGY 81 "Allerscan" multidisks and single terms for

allergens included in multidisks that were notalready represented in LOINC

BC 53 Cell types per hundred leukocytesBLDBK 42 Terms added to correctly represent certain blood

groups not characterized by presence of antigensCELLMARK 36 Abnormal blood cell fractions; blasts fractions;

CD lymphocytesCHAL 75 Mostly new hormone challengesCHEM 752 Many additional terms for previously unrepresented

specimens (UR, CSF, PLR, PRT, DIAF, SNV, AMN)DRUG 153 Substance concentrationsHEM 55 Manual counts; complementsMICRO 249 New methods for serological tests and microscopic

observations; viruses such as mumps and rubeola onlarge variety of specimens

SERO 85

TOX 138 Drugs of abuse screens and confirms; non-drug toxinsin new specimens.URO.US 50 Clinical terms for ultrasound measurements in

urology.VET 78 Microbiology terms used in veterinary medicine

With this release of LOINC, we have begun representing results used by the veterinary medicine community. These first terms represent microbiology results for antibodies and antigens to bacteria and viruses which are important infectious agents in commercial livestock. In future releases, we will also include chemistrytests for non-human species. To accommodate this expansion of the database, wehave also added a new field (SPECIES) which contains codes reporting which anima

l species the term relates to. If the field is blank, "human" is to be assumed the relevant species.

Three new fields have been added to the LOINC database, as described below

42 CSCQ_FRNCH_NM Char 255 French name for LOINC term. Supplied byCentre Suisse de Controle de Qualite.This field contains extended charactersand will not transfer correctly to 7-bitsystems

43 SPECIES Char 20 Codes detailing which non-human speciesthe term applies to. If blank, "human" isassumed.

44 EXAMPL_ANSWERS Char 50 For some tests and measurements, we havesupplied examples of valid answers, suchas "1:64", "negative @ 1:16", or "55".This differs from the ANSWERLIST field,which details possible choices fornominal scale terms.

Changes to existing LOINC terms

Changes to Component/Analyte Field

Trailing .TOTAL has been removed from Laboratory LOINC terms except when occurring in denominator of a fraction (e.g., ALBUMIN/PROTEIN.TOTAL)


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Leading "PROTEIN." removed, e.g., PROTEIN.PREALBUMIN becomes PREALBUMIN

Leading "LIPIDS." Removed, e.g., LIPIDS.TRIGLYCERIDE becomes TRIGLYCERIDE

CHORIONIC GONADOTROPIN changed to CHORIOGONADOTROPIN (previously, both variantsexisted in database)

D- and L- changed to dextro- and levo-; D- and L- added to RELAT_NMS

Variants like "SPECIMEN 1" and "FIRST SPECIMEN" changed to "1ST SPECIMEN" and soon for other numbers. Also, ACUTE and CONVALESCENT changed to 1st SPECIMEN and2nd SPECIMEN, Acute and Convalescent added to RELAT_NMS

Corrected delimiters (some terms had .SUPINE rather than ^SUPINE, etc.)

The formal names of Vitamin D varieties were corrected to correspond to the morefamiliar numbered name which appeared in the related names field: Cholecalciferol instead of calciferol; calciferol instead of

ergocalciferol, and a term was added for ergosterol, which was missing from thedatabase.

Changed "COCAINE" to "BENZOYLCOGONINE" and "CANNABINOIDS" to "TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL" for all specimens otherthan BLD, SER/PLAS, and USUB, since cocaine/cannabinoids are detectable only inthose specimens.

Added denominators of xFRs where previously omitted, especially electrophoresisfractions and METHMOGLOBIN.

"SPERM" changed to "SPERMATOZOA"; SPERM added to RELAT_NMS

Added "SP" to micro tests that detect genera, not individual species.

Changed storage mite ab terms so that Latin name is component and storage mite is in related names. Also corrected spelling of Tyrophagus putrescentiae.

"Q WAVE" replaces "Q-WAVE"

A,B AB and AG Previously, blood bank tests for antibodies/antigens to both A andB were named AB AB and AB AG, which was ambiguous and confusing). These are nowcalled A.B AB and A.B AG.

Standardized virus names so that they are all of the form

VIRUS .

e.g., HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS 2 ABEPSTEIN BARR VIRUS CAPSID AB.IGG

Reconciled spelling ofGamma glutamyl transferaseXanthochromiaSquamous6-monoacetylmorphinevarious gangliosides

Epstein BarrAmino beta guanidinopropionate


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Changes to other major parts of name

Some SER and PLAS terms standardized to SER/PLAS;resulting duplicates retired

PCR/PROBE changed to PROBE.AMP.TAR; DNA PROBE changed to PROBE

xCNC and xFR corrected to reflect xCNT for solid specimens

Property NARIC has been added for cell counts per HPF and LPF.

"SAMHSA" removed from method field for specimens other than UR and SER, since only these two specimens are approved for SAMHSA testing.

Several varieties of "date", "date/time" etc standardized to property TMSTP

There has also been a universal change to the SCALE field : Because there has been so much confusion about the appropriate use of QL and SQ, we are changing these codes to more closely correspond to a "common sense" knowledge of these distinctions. In this release of LOINC, QL is replaced by NOM (for nominal), SQ is re

placed by ORD (for ordinal) and SQN is replaced by ORDQN. There is also an expanded discussion of the SCALE field, including examples, in the revised version ofthe Users' Guide, dated April 1998.

Terms retired:

107 terms have been marked "DEL" in the STATUS field, meaning they should no longer be used. Three were incorrect or nonexistent blood bank tests for which no corresponding correct term or concept could be identified; the remaining 104 wereeither duplicates of existing terms or erroneous terms for which new correct terms were constructed; these terms are mapped to the correct replacement terms inthe MAP_TO field.

+------------------+ Version 1.0J-a Released 10/9/97 +----------------- +

(Version 1.0J was circulated briefly with a release of RELMA but never as a stand-alone database. Version 1.0J-a is a slight modification of 1.0J, which corrects a few errors in the database.)

Release 1.0J-a of the LOINC database contains 13,465 terms, including 2,613 terms new in this release.

Class Changes/Additions----- -----------------

ABXBACT Precision of agar diffusion and MIC changed to SQN toaccommodate both semiquantitative and quantitativereporting.

ALLERGY Added 110 new IgE antibody terms for allergens.

BC Added 80 terms, including many terms for cells found inbone marrow, cerebrospinal fluid, and other non-blood

specimens, and terms for cell morphology.

CELLMARK Added: 19 new terms


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CHAL Added 279 new terms, including many new terms for recordingunspecified challenges.

CHEM Added 433 new terms, including terms for many analytes inamniotic fluid, peritoneal dialysis fluid, and unspecifiedbody fluid.

DRUG Added 219 new terms.

ED Added: 190 new terms adopted from CDC DEEDS (Data ElementsFUNCTION for Emergency Department Systems) data dictionary forH&P.HX recording emergency department variables.

HEM Added: 18 new terms

HLA Added: 15 new terms

MICRO Added: 318 new terms, including non-method specific terms

for many antibody tests.

OB.US Added: Completely new class containing 558 terms todescribe measurements and observations taken duringobstetric ultrasound examination.

SERO Added: 102 new terms, including non-method specific termsfor many antibody tests.

TOX Added: 123 new terms, including both new analytes in serumand/or urine, and specimens such as hair, nails, meconium,and vitreous fluid.

Changes in the database structure

Four new fields have been added to the database:

CLASSTYPE

With the merging of the laboratory and clinical databases in the last release, we perceived a need to easily separate the database into these two groups. Thus we assigned a new variable, CLASSTYPE, which equals "1" if the terms is in a LABclass and "2" if it is in a CLINIC class.

FORMULA

Many of the OB.US (obstetric ultrasound) terms are calculations based on regression formulae published in the clinical literature. We added the FORMULA field tostore the details of these regression equations.

MULTUM_CD

Multum Inc. produces a database of codes for drugs, similar to the Medispan codes which are already included in the LOINC database. Multum has graciously provided us with a map between their drug code values and the drug terms included in the LOINC database. We added this field to store those values.

DEEDS_CD

The CDC has developed a data dictionary listing terms relevant to emergency department care and has assigned code values to those terms. This field contains the


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DEEDS code value which maps to the LOINC code in question.

A complete listing of the field locations, sizes, and types follows.

Position Name Type Size1 LOINC_NUM Text 72 COMPONENT Text 150

3 PROPERTY Text 104 TIME_ASPCT Text 105 SYSTEM Text 506 SCALE_TYP Text 307 METHOD_TYP Text 508 RELAT_NMS Text 2549 CLASS Text 2010 SOURCE Text 811 EUCLIDE_CD Text 1012 ASTM_CD Text 913 IUPAC_CD Text 814 DT_LAST_CH Text 8

15 CHNG_REAS Text 25416 CHNG_TYPE Text 317 COMMENTS Text 25418 ANSWERLIST Text 25419 STATUS Text 320 MAP_TO Text 721 SCOPE Text 25422 SNOWMED_CD Text 1023 VA_CD Text 824 METPATH_CD Text 1025 HCFA_CD Text 1226 CDC_CD Text 627 NORM_RANGE Text 30

28 EX_US_UNIT Text 3029 IPCC_UNITS Text 3030 GPI_CD Text 1131 GPI_CD_TOT Text 25432 REFERENCE Text 25433 EXACT_CMP_SY Text 25434 MOLAR_MASS Text 1335 IUPC_ANLT_CD Text 1336 ANSWERLIST2 Text 25437 ANSWERLIST3 Text 25438 CLASSTYPE Integer 239 FORMULA Text 25540 MULTUM_CD Text 641 DEEDS_CD Text 7

Changes to RELMA

There have been numerous changes to the RELMA program since the last documentedversion (0.96 Beta). Some of the changes are "visible" to the user (e.g., new program options) while others are not (e.g., changes in data organization, speed improvements, etc.). The most obvious change is in the size of the database itself. There are now over 13,400 LOINC terms in the database with more than 7,600 keywords and 170,000 searchable components. Despite the increased database size, most searches are completed in less than a second on a Pentium machine. These improvements come at a cost, however. The disk space required by RELMA has increase

d to almost 70M, of which over 65M is just for the database. Some of the major highlights in this release include the following.


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The LMOF (Local Master Observation File) table has been split out from the LOINCACS.MDB database into its own database file (LMOF.MDB). This was done to make updating the LOINC database safer and easier for the user.

The routine for importing local numbers and descriptions is more flexible.

Searches can be restricted by class (e.g., Lab or Clinic) and subclasses (e.g.,

CHEM, CHAL, etc.).

Keywords for searching the database can be automatically toggled.

Persistent keywords: If the user types in a keyword in any of the last three keyword boxes (keyword boxes 8, 9, and 10), these keywords do not disappear as theuser moves from one local code to the next.

Easier access to LOINC details: A left-mouse click now highlights a row in the grid box and a right-mouse click then causes details for the highlighted LOINC number to be presented.

Duplicate removal: When wildcard searches are done, it is possible for duplicateLOINC numbers to be presented. A new button removes these duplicates and sortsthe output by description. Clicking on the "No Dups" button when there are no duplicates still sorts the grid box output by description, which may be usefulto the user.

Double-click mapping: Once a LOINC a term is highlighted in the grid box, double-clicking immediately maps the highlighted LOINC term to the local code. This speeds up the mapping process considerably compared to earlier versions of RELMA.

New program options: One option permits the user to output the content of the LMOF table to an ASCII file. A second option allows the user to read the ASCII file back into the LMOF table.

New report options: You can sort the output of various reports. In most cases, you can elect to have the output ordered by: 1) physical file order, 2) LOINC number, 3) LOINC description, 4) local code number, or 5) local description.

Speed improvements: The data structures have been changed to reduce database search times.

+-------------------+ Version 1.0i Released 01/08/97 +-------------------+

In release 1.0i, we have added 1,040 records in the areas ofsurgical pathology,immune stains, microbiology, blood banking,fertility, and others. A new class, SURGPATH, has been created torepresent surgical pathology terms. The Users' Guidehas beenupdated to reflect the many changes that have taken place sinceApril 1996, including the recent release of the Clinical LOINC database.

Important: The syntax representing observations made on an entity other than thepatient has been changed. The SYSTEM_TYP field may now contain a modifier delimited with the "^" character. This change may require some users to modify the procedures they have developed to import or parse LOINC terms into their data applications. Please consult Section 2.5.1 of the new Users' Guide for more information on this change.

+-------------------+ Clinical LOINC


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Version 1.0 Released 12/03/96 +-------------------+

The first release of Clinical LOINC contains 1,492 observations and 37 fields. The first 35 fields are identical to the fields available in Laboratory LOINC; fields 36 and 37 (ANSWERLST2 and ANSWERLST3) provide an overflow for ANSWERLIST va

lues that exceed the 254 characters allowable in FoxPro dBase and Microsoft Excel files.

+-------------------+ Version 1.0h(2) Released 08/29/96 +-------------------+

LOINC News: In July 1996, the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) endorsed LOINC and is now recommending that all of its member report laboratory results using LOINC codes. The 40+ members of the ACLA account for approximately

70% of the volume of tests performed in the United States. Also, ICD10 PCS codes for HCFA are being now constructed based on LOINC terms. Finally, Ontario, Canada is very interested in the use of LOINC codes for province-wide laboratory result reporting.

Corrections to existing terms

SUPER Convention: Previously we used "LITTLE" in thecomponent/analyte name to indicate that the followingalphabetic character is lower case in the official name. Inthis release we similarly employ the word "SUPER" toindicate that the following character is a superscriptaccording to official nomenclature.

Blood bank: The parentheses included in the names of bloodbank antigens were mostly unnecessary. They should not havebeen included according to our naming rules for specifyinglower case alphabetic terms (LITTLE) unless, as in a fewcases, the lowercase letter is enclosed by parentheses inthe formal name. These have been corrected in this release.

Changes to standard report format: We have changed the content of the printable(WordPerfect and Word) LOINC reports in the following ways:

The ASTM Code, IUPAC Code, MetPath Code, and Comments columns are no longer displayed. They are still maintained in the database, they are just not printed onthe word processing reports. Columns representing the Exact Core Component Synonym, Change Reason, IUPAC Analyte Code, and Molar Mass have been added to the report. (The Exact Core Component Synonym, IUPAC Analyte Code, and Molar Mass fields are new to LOINC with Release 1.0h -- see Section 4 for a description.) We stress that this is a change to the printed reports only; we have not and never will change the order of the fields in the database itself (in either the tab-delimited ASCII "LOINDBT1.TXT" or the dBase "LOINC.DBF" formats).

The order of the columns on the reports is now:

StatusClass

Loinc NumberMap ToAnalyte/Component Name


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Type of PropertyTime AspectSystem/SpecimenType of ScaleMethodRelated NamesExact Core Component Synonym

Date Last ChangedReason for ChangeAnswer ListEUCLIDES CodeIUPAC Analyte CodeMolar Mass

New data fields: 3 new fields have been added and populated withdata for many observations:

Field # Field Name Type Width

33 XCT_CMP_SY C 25434 MOLAR_MASS C 1335 IUP_ANL_CD C 13

Field 33: Exact core component synonym: This field containsan exact synonym for the "core component" of the LOINCcomponent name. We have included the mixed case and"superscript" form of blood bank and HLA antigens (e.g.,Lua) here to make it easier for automatic matching programs.As there is no ASCII character for superscript letters, weuse the hat (^) to signify that the next character is asuperscript in these exact synonyms. (E.g., if the corecomponent is represented as L LITTLE U LITTLE SUPER A in the

LOINC component/analyte name field, it is represented in theExact Core Synonym field as Lu^a.) In a future release wewill add more exact synonyms for the core components.

Field 34: Molecular weights: This field contains themolecular weights of many chemical moieties when they areprovided to us. Those added in this release were kindlycontributed by IUPAC.

Field 35: IUPAC analyte code: This field contains theChemical Abstract service number or the Enzyme Nomenclaturenumber for the chemical components for chemicals and/orenzymes. These were also contributed by IUPAC.

New observations: We have added 1,559 terms in the following areas:

Susceptibilities based on antibiotic gradient strips(E-tests):We have added observations to represent each ofthe antibiotics for which susceptibilities can be performedvia antibiotic gradient strips.

Allergen testing: serum IGE and basophil bound antibodies:We have significantly enlarged the set of serum IGE allergentests, and have added a large number of tests for basophilbound antibodies to specific allergens using the leukocyte

histamine release method. This test may be more clinicallypredictive than the serum based IGE allergen tests. Most ofthese allergen test terms were contributed by Lab Corp and


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Corning MetPath.

We edited the allergen names so that the part of the namethat corresponds most closely to the genus comes first, thespecies comes next, and finer specification comes last. Soan IGE AB against Live Oak would be listed as OAK LIVEAB.IGE. The IGE AB against Interior Live Oak would be listed

OAK LIVE INTERIOR AB.IGE. If the allergen came from aparticular part of the tree (e.g., bark) it would be OAKLIVE INTERIOR BARK AB.IGE. (Of course, common names do notalways align well with the corresponding scientific name.)In the future, we will work toward including the Latinscientific name for each of the species represented in theseallergen tests in the exact component synonym field.

Microbiology expansion: We have added many terms to themicrobiology section to deal with exotic infections,antigens and antibodies against more specific subspecies(especially for viruses), and scattered IGM and IGG

measures. Some of these additions were made in response tothe CDCs communicable disease electronic reporting project,with which we are cooperating.

Lymphocyte bound CD antigens: Corning MetPath contributedapproximately 40 new terms for reporting levels and ratiosof lymphocyte bound CD antigens.

New "Type of Scale" Level: We have introduced a new category for Type of Scale.The new category, "SQN,"applies to results that can be reported as either QN or SQ scales.

+-------------------+ Version 1.0g Released 04/28/96 +-------------------+

Approximately 100 new terms added in a variety of areas. Drug terms linked to Medispan 10-digit GPI codes where available in new field GPI_CD. Drugs with multiple GPI entries are linked in GPI_CD_TOTAL. New field REFERENCE contains references to textbook, journal, or other source which provided information about term.

Beginning with Version 1.0g, LOINC is available in DBF format. This format is distributed as LOINCDBF.EXE, a self-extracting file containing the DBF, accompanying CDX, and a read.me file.

+-------------------+ Version 1.0f Released 12/21/95 +-------------------+

Classes VIRO, PROBE, BACT, and SERO terms for infections agents reclassified asMICRO (microbiology). Approximately XXX new microbiology terms added. Corrections to properties, IUPAC codes, and EUCLIDES codes. Link to MetPath codes corrected. Word and WordPerfect versions of database rearranged to show MetPath code li

nks and make identification of deleted terms easier. Variable order changed intab-delimited database. Changes documented in new release of Users' Guide.


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+-------------------+ Version 1.0e Released 09/15/95 +-------------------+

About 25 corrections to properties to correspond to IUPAC usage. Term 6300-8 added for glucose in amniotic fluid. Nomenclature of parts of name changed to conf

orm more closely to IUPAC: measure = component/analyte; timing = time aspect; specimen = system/sample; precision = scale.

+-------------------+ Version 1.0d Released 07/14/95 +-------------------+

Approximately 350 terms added: allergen IGE tests (these are often called RAST tests, after the commonly used method, but more than one method is used) and coagulation tests - mostly beginning with the letters P through Z -- which were inad

vertently omitted from Release 1.0a.

We have established links between LOINC codes and approximately 1500 MetPath codes. These are mapped in METPATH_CODE.

In most instances, we have supplied properties for the records whose property fields were blank. Most of these terms are in the hematology class.

We identified a number of duplicate entries. Usually these had quite different names but the names were synonyms. In these cases, one of the duplicates was marked "DEL" in the STATUS field, and the MAP_TO field of that record contains a pointer to the correct record. In every case the LOINC record with the smaller LOINC

number was identified as the preferred LOINC record and the other one was markedas a "deleted term." (Records are never actually deleted from the LOINC database, but if a term should no longer be used, the value of STATUS will be set to DEL.)

+-------------------+ Version 1.0c Released 06/28/95 +-------------------+

Two terms with duplicate LOINC Number 5917-0 marked Status="DEL" and reassignedto LOINC Numbers 5932-9 and5933-7.

+-------------------+ Version 1.0b Released 06/23/95 +-------------------+

Approximately 20 Chemistry terms added.

+-------------------+ Version 1.0a


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Released 05/24/95 +-------------------+

"MAP_TO" field added to provide mapping to new terms when old terms are marked for logical deletion (we put a "DEL" in the STATUS field to indicate this.) We added 16 coagulation terms to the WP version; these terms were in the 1.0 releaseof the ASCII database but were mistakenly omitted from the WordPerfect 1.0 rele

ase. We marked term 3173-2 (Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time) as STATUS="DEL" because it was a duplicate of term 5898-2 (Coagulation Surface Induced, whichcarries APTT and Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time assynonyms).

In BC (blood count) terms, METHOD=FLOW CYTOMETER changed to METHOD = AUTOMATED COUNT to more accurately reflect lab terminology.

+-------------------+ Version 1.0

Released 04/24/95 +-------------------+

loinc releasenotes

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