Meaning of 431196006 |Tissue spot (specimen)

Clinical Reference Groups Pathology & Laboratory Medicine CRG
1

We’ve received a request from a member about the meaning of 431196006 |Tissue spot (specimen). It was created in 2008 and did not originate from the Read Codes. There are several possible meanings including:

  1. A circular section on a glass slide created by slicing a tissue core embedded in a paraffin block, typically used in tissue microarray analysis.

  2. A “spot”/lesion on a piece of tissue, e.g., a spot on liver . Note: SNOMED CT doesn’t have a concept for “Tissue lesion (specimen)” though it has 309049000 |Lesion specimen (specimen)|.

  3. A marking spot, e.g., “Specimen Orientation Tag (SpOT)”

We are seeking advice from this Group as to whether the meaning of this concept can be reasonably defined and agreed upon, or if the concept is unclear and should be inactivated and replaced with one or two clearly worded concepts.

Thanks,
Suzanne