Hello-
I am hoping someone on the forum can help clarify a set of LOINC codes that I’m having trouble understanding. These all include “GE” (in capitals) in the component name and are all related to imaging procedures (x-ray studies as far as I can tell) and also apparently usually accompanied by the word “views”.
I am quite familiar with imaging procedures in general but I have no idea what the abbreviation or acronym “GE” might mean here, unless it refers to the use of General Electric x-ray machines, which would seem to be an odd sort of thing to specify in a LOINC concept!
Examples:
43489-4 Views GE 3:Find:Pt:Finger.second.left:Doc:XR
44196-4 Views GE 5^W R-Bending & W L-Bending:Find:Pt:Spine.lumbar:Doc:XR
44192-3 Views GE 3 portable:Find:Pt:Pelvis:Doc:XR
Can anyone share any insights on what these are intended to mean? Maybe someone from Regenstrief itself could chime in?
Sincerely,
Eric Rose, M.D.
Intelligent Medical Objects
Oops…I found the answer in the LOINC manual. Missed it the first time around. GE means “greater than or equal to” when the component indicates the number of views for an imaging study.
Eric,
Glad that you were able to find the explanation of the acronyms within the User’s Guide. The Radiology terms can be a bet cryptic. Some of the terms have perpetuated the naming conventions of other standards. Such is the case with the ‘GE’ and "LE’, which were derived from CPT nomenclature.
A specific presentation is given each Clinical LOINC meeting discussing radiology within LOINC. The slides for these presentations are on the LOINC.org website. It might be helpful to review those slides for a bit of background regarding radiology within LOINC.
Happy ‘LOINCing!’ (yes, it is a verb!)
Pat