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Narrative description

A concept that has been inactivated because the FSN contains an error which impact the meaning. For example, while in ordinary usage the words sprain and strain are often used interchangeably, in fact they are not synonyms. A sprain refers specifically to an injury of a ligament, which connects bone to bone. A strain is an injury of a tendon, which connects muscle to bone. Therefore a sprain of the biceps tendon would be an error, it should be a strain of the biceps tendon. The important aspect here is that by making this change to the FSN there is a clear change in meaning of the concept and hence the need to inactivate the original concept.

Historically this inactivation reason has also been used to include (usually minor) technical typographical and grammar errors. However, current guidance recommends that the FSN can be changed whilst retaining the concept ID provided such corrections do not in truth change the meaning. Therefore, in the context of inactivating concepts, this inactivation reason now explicitly excludes such minor technical corrections.

Note however that, where a typographically incorrect FSN description is inactivated to make way for a corrected alternate FSN on the same concept, then the reason Reason for inactivation Inactivation of the inactivated FSN description component would validly be: Erroneous.

Details

Known issues

1. Because the description of how this inactivation reason should be used has been unclear, it is often used incorrectly with significant overlap between this and "Non-conformance to editorial policy". In particular it should not be used where:
   1. There is simply a word order change but no change in meaning
   2. A change in punctuation, but no change in meaning
   3. A spelling mistake unless the mistake has given rise to a word that gives rise to a change in meaning e.g. strain v sprain
2. It may be difficult to distinguish between a concept description that has an error as opposed to one which is ambiguous - of course some errors may give rise to ambiguity

Examples

Simple Example

58484007 Infection caused by Madurella mycetomii (disorder)
REPLACED BY
715061003 Infection caused by Madurella mycetomatis (disorder)

385448005 Mycoplasma weynonii (organism)
REPLACED BY
422516008 Mycoplasma wenyonii (organism)

160244002 No known allergies (situation)
REPLACED BY
716186003 No known allergy (situation)

391052007 Hip dual energy X-ray absorptiometry scan (procedure)
REPLACED BY
429529009 Dual energy X-ray photon absorptiometry scan of hip (procedure)

25057004 Mercurial diuretic (product)
* no substitute *

322208004 Non-opioid analgesics (product)
* no substitute *

Complex Example

1612004 Acne rosacea (disorder)
REPLACED BY
398909004 Rosacea (disorder)

419637008 House dust allergy vaccine (substance)
REPLACED BY
346468008 House dust allergy vaccine (product)

709449000 Marine mollusk - dietary (substance)
REPLACED BY
735959004 Marine mollusk (substance)

139642006 Has nosebleeds - epistaxis (finding)
REPLACED BY
249366005 Bleeding from nose (finding)

277751005 6 meters (finding)
inactivation reason should have been DUPLICATE
REPLACED BY 419493001 6 meters (finding)

218244000 Accidents NOS (morphologic abnormality)
inactivation reason should have been LIMITED
REPLACED BY 19130008 Traumatic abnormality (morphologic abnormality)

78461004 Memory impairment (finding)
inactivation reason should have been DUPLICATE
REPLACED BY 386807006 Memory impairment (finding)

Impact

(Describe how specific stakeholders are affected by the inactivation)

•  Authors

1. Authors must be careful to avoid using this inactivation reason where it would be more appropriate to use either an allowed change to the FSN without inactivation of the concept or non-conformance to editorial policy.

•  Release Management Team

Local Release Management Team:

• Notification to end users of the changes and replacement concept

•  Developers

• Update of Refsets and where necessary ECL queries

•  End Users

Where an end user disagrees with the judgement and that is agreed with the local NRC a replacement concept may need to be created and an adjustment to the historical relationships file

Potential improvement:

1. Exclude typographical and grammar errors which can be addressed through the use of allowable changes to the FSN
2. Consider restricting this inactivation reason to include only errors which indicate an error of meaning e.g. a radiological procedure which states contrast is used when this is not the case
3. Add a text field to allow the author to state what the error type is

Supporting resources

(Provide links to any resources relevant for this scenario)