LOINC part type codes and LA16043-4

LOINC part type codes, such as LP6960-1 for the code PT, are visible on the web site and RELMA tool. But, I’ve never seen a source for them in the download section. The code LA16043-4;Chest x-ray, has appear in the value set 2.16.840.1.113762.1.4.1111.41: Chest XRay Diagnostic Test from the Value Set Authority Center (https://vsac.nlm.nih.gov/). There also does not appear to be a download file for these codes.

Is there a source for these codes that can be used for reference?

Thanks you,

John Mapoles

3M Health Information would also be interested in this information. I’ll forward to Dan Vreeman and John Hook through regular email. Hope we hear soon!

Pam Banning

Did you ever get a reply on this? I’m trying to find LOINC Part codes and having no luck…

The LOINC PART codes (LP), Answer lists codes (LL), and answer string codes (LA) are not currently distributed as standalone files. You can find key subsets of the Parts in the Multiaxial Hierarchy File, the Document Ontology File, and the LOINC/RSNA Radiology Playbook. Many of the Answer Lists and Answer String codes are available in the Panels and Forms File.

The Regenstrief Institute and the LOINC Committee are in the process of examining both the legal, maintenance, and resource issues involved with distributing other collections of these codes. We hope that in the future we will be able to address these issues and make them available as part of the LOINC release. But, there is no scheduled timeline for that to happen.

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for your reply! The reason I’m asking is that I’d like to use the mappings between SNOMED and LOINC to determine which materials (in SNOMED) are consistent with the System axis value of a LOINC concept. I’ve found the mappings between SNOMED materials and LP codes (distributed in RF2 format), but I’m unable to find the link between the LP codes and LOINC test codes, or even the descriptions that go with the LP codes. So even though I have mapping between SNOMED concepts and LP codes, I can’t establish the link between the SNOMED concepts and the values of the System axis (which I can only see in human readable form in the LOINC hierarchy).

I could try to go via the postcoordination mapping, but I should think it will take much longer for that mapping to be complete (with so many more codes to map), and it’s more cumbersome as I’d have to parse those postcoordinations. Do you have any advice on how to proceed?

Best wishes,

Feikje (Nictiz, NRC Netherlands)

Hi Daniel,

Any updates on this?

Best regards,

Peter Jordan (HL7 New Zealand)

Hi Peter -

Yes, we now publish both the LOINC Part File and the LOINC Answer File as artifacts in each LOINC release. Take a look at the documentation in each package to see the linkages. Stay tuned in June 2019 for a significant enhancement to the LOINC Part File that will represent the relationships between LOINC terms and Parts even better.

Happy LOINCing.

P.S. LOINC terms, Parts, Answer lists, and Answers are also available via our FHIR API.