# Are Items' Related Names in RELMA.MDB?

**URL:** <https://forum.loinc.org/t/are-items-related-names-in-relma-mdb/1015>\
**Category:** general-discussion\
**Created:** [February 28, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://forum.loinc.org/t/are-items-related-names-in-relma-mdb/1015 "2019-02-28T01:22:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![thomashc](https://forum.loinc.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@thomashc](https://forum.loinc.org/u/thomashc)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://forum.loinc.org/t/are-items-related-names-in-relma-mdb/1015/1 "2019-02-28T01:22:01Z")

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Each LOINC item has an associated list of Related Names in its description/details. Some of the Related Names appear to come from the item parts.

| Component | Property | Time | System | Scale | Method |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Parathyrin | Imp | Pt | Ser/Plas | Nar |

But, where do the others in Related Names list come from? E.g. the Related Names for parathyrin are:

| | Chemistry | Parathyroid hormone | SerP |
| | Impression | Pl | SerPl |
| | Impression/interpretation of study | Plasma | SerPlas |
| | Impressions | Plsm | Serum |
| | Interp | Point in time | Serum or plasma |
| | Interpretation | PTH | SR |
| | Narrative | Random | |
| | Parathormone | Report |

For every item, are Related Names stored somewhere? If they are in RELMA.MDB, where? Are some of them dynamically generated? Some, like "Parathyroid hormone" don't appear to be algorithmically generated.

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**Author:** ![pdbanning](https://forum.loinc.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/9f8e36/32.png) [@pdbanning](https://forum.loinc.org/u/pdbanning)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 10:06am UTC](https://forum.loinc.org/t/are-items-related-names-in-relma-mdb/1015/2 "2019-03-04T10:06:28Z")

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Hello Thomas

there are many valuable fields in the LOINC.MDB, and it has changed usages over time. I believe you are referring to RELATEDNAME2 field. RELMA’s development came a while after LOINC began; there could be tables within both that work together in the platform.

Have a great week,

Pam

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**Author:** ![thomashc](https://forum.loinc.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@thomashc](https://forum.loinc.org/u/thomashc)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 12:44pm UTC](https://forum.loinc.org/t/are-items-related-names-in-relma-mdb/1015/3 "2019-03-04T12:44:49Z")

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Thank you very much, Pam! The RELATEDNAME2 field is exactly what we are looking for.

I previously opened and browsed almost every table but overlooked that field in the big LOINC table. After your helpful reply, I added a public domain Visual Basic script to search the field names in all tables ([http://allenbrowne.com/ser-73.html](http://allenbrowne.com/ser-73.html)) and located it immediately.

-T

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**Author:** ![system](https://forum.loinc.org/uploads/default/original/1X/dbab97ce9b2987d788a376e254fcaae249f3b672.png) [@system](https://forum.loinc.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://forum.loinc.org/t/are-items-related-names-in-relma-mdb/1015/4 "2023-06-23T15:36:42Z")

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