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Get a Concept, Description or Relationship

Overview

The terminology content of SNOMED CT is represented by three types of uniquely identified components:

A concept is a clinical idea to which a unique concept identifier has been assigned.
A description is an association between a human-readable phrase (term) and a particular SNOMED CT concept.
A relationship is an association between a source concept and a destination concept.

Each of these components is associated with a set of attributes that support interpretation of the component at a given point in time. The data structures of the components and the associations between them are documented in the .

Getting data associated with identified concepts, descriptions or relationships is a fundamental requirement that must be met by any SNOMED CT terminology services provider. The required services are listed in the table below.

Service Name and Status

Input

Output

Other terminology services
- All except .
Use cases

Service Types

Service Name

API Call

Result

Service Name

API Call

Result

Service Name

SQL Query

Result

Get a Concept, Description or Relationship

Overview

The terminology content of SNOMED CT is represented by three types of uniquely identified components:

A concept is a clinical idea to which a unique concept identifier has been assigned.
A description is an association between a human-readable phrase (term) and a particular SNOMED CT concept.
A relationship is an association between a source concept and a destination concept.

Service Name and Status

Input

Output

Other terminology services
- All except .
Use cases

Service Types

Service Name

API Call

Result

Service Name

API Call

Result

Service Name

SQL Query

Result

Get relationship by identifier

REQUIRED

Edition and version
A relationship identifier.
Optional: Language/dialect

Relationship not found: Return appropriate error message.
Relationship found: Return data associated with the relationship conforming at least to the minimum set specified below:
- Minimum: All data for the identified relationship in the snapshot view of the requested edition and version.

Get relationship by identifier

for example

Encoded URL

Returns a JSON representation of data related to the specified relationship.

The data returned:

Represents all the current data in the relationship file row for the identified relationship
Also includes the fully specified name and preferred term for the source, type and target concepts

GET [snowstorm]/[branchPath]/concepts/[conceptId]

for example

GET [snowstorm]/MAIN%2F2020-01-31/concepts/6025007

Encoded URL

GET [snowstorm]/MAIN%2F2020-01-31/concepts/6025007

Returns a JSON representation of data related to the specified concept.

The data returned:

Represents all the current data in the concept file row for the identified concept
Also includes the fully specified name and preferred term but does not include other synonyms
Includes the definition status but does not include the stated or inferred definition of the concept.

GET [snowstorm]/[branchPath]/descriptions/[descriptionId]

for example

GET [snowstorm]/MAIN%2F2020-01-31/descriptions/2156578010

Encoded URL

GET [snowstorm]/MAIN%2F2020-01-31/descriptions/2156578010

GET [fhir]/CodeSystem/$lookup?system=http://snomed.info/sct &code=[conceptId]&_format=json

for example

GET [fhir]/CodeSystem/$lookup?system=http://snomed.info/sct &code=6025007&_format=json

Returns a JSON representation of information about the identified concept

The data returned includes:

The effectiveTime and moduleId of the concept
Terms associated with descriptions as a display designations of the concept
A representation of the subtype relationships of the concept

SELECT * FROM snap_concept WHERE id=[conceptId]

for example

SELECT * FROM snap_concept WHERE id=6025007

SELECT * FROM snap_description WHERE id=[descriptionId]

for example

SELECT * FROM snap_description WHERE id=2156578010

The Snowstorm and FHIR examples are presented in plain text and URL encoded versions. Always use the "Encoded URL" when testing the example service requests. The plain text version is included to aid readability but using this version in a service request may result in errors. These errors result from characters that have to be encoded as they are not permitted in a URL (see IETF RFC1738).

The SNOMED CT MySQL example database is not designed as a terminology server and is not intended for use in a live system . However, it is referenced in this guide as an illustration that some readers may find helpful. For more information about the SNOMED CT example database see the SNOMED CT - SQL Practical Guide.

Returns a JSON representation of data related to the specified description.

The data returned:

Represents all the current data in the description file row for the identified description
Also includes the language acceptability data for the description derived from each of the language reference sets present in the specified edition
Also includes human readable symbolic names for concept enumerations (e.g. " type ": "SYNONYM", "caseSignificance": "CASE_INSENSITIVE" )

Get a Concept, Description or Relationship

Overview

Get a Concept, Description or Relationship

Overview

Requirements and Options

Services Required

Interdependencies

Required By

Depends On

Service Examples

Snowstorm API

FHIR API

SQL Illustration