OntoDL Syntax: QualifiedConcept

Syntax

QualifiedConcept	:=	ConceptIdentifier @ InternalReference		InternalReference must refer to a system or codesystem.
ConceptIdentifier	:=	Name

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Description

Qualified concepts refer to concepts defined within a code system. In contrast to other OntoDL statements, a qualified concepts only requires the code system to be identifiable while the concept is assumed to be resolveable by CTS2LE through the code system and a given concept identifier (usually the concept's code within the code system). Qualified concepts are used to introduce concepts from existing code systems to an OntoDL document. E. g. the following OntoDL statements

define system SNOMEDCT  = CTS2LE.Systems[OID=(2.16.840.1.113883.6.96)]
define concept(FSN) = 900000000000003001@SNOMEDCT

defines a new concept named "FSN" as a reference to a concept that is univocally identifiable within the code system "SNOMEDCT" by the identifier "900000000000003001".

The definition of the code system is through an internal reference which may be any term that resolves to an object of type system or code system. Therefore the example above could as well be written as:

define concept(FSN) = 900000000000003001@CTS2LE.Systems[OID=(2.16.840.1.113883.6.96)]

If the internal reference resolves to an object of type codesystem, the OntoDL interpreter requires that the identified concept exists within the code system. If the internal reference resolves to an object of type system, the OntoDL interpreter creates the respective concept object without any further validation.

A common scenario where qualified concpts are used is the definition of value sets on existing code systems:

define system OPS = CTS2LE.Systems[OID=(1.2.276.0.76.5.425)] 
define system (implant surgeries) {
  set .URI = (http:/OntoDL.de/example1)
  define concept(hip joint implant) = (5-820)@OPS
  define concept(knee joint implant) = (5-822)@OPS
}