I am trying to figure out the proper codes to represent the measurements from an Abbott CHOLESTECH LDX device to translate the measurements into FHIR following the PHD IG (more or less). There are no MDC codes for lipid measurements.
There are countless LOINC codes but I do not have the medical expertise to understand the differences between all the variants. All the variants I have looked have a property field containing MDnc, PrThr, etc. but I cannot find any dictionary for these terms.
The device measures cholesterol HDL, LDL, TRG, non-HDL, TC (total) some ratios like LDL/HDL and TC/HDL in serum or whole blood.
This response will focus on the finding of LOINC terms. I will defer to others to reply on the current capability of FHIR and laboratory data.
There is a movement afoot for the IVD vendors to provide the appropriate LOINC terms for their assays and instrumentation. Inserting a recent message from Committee member Xavier Gansel on starting the work with your instrument vendor:
"The added value of using manufacturer established LOINC codes was recently documented [1]. That study mentioned 3 such manufacturers : Abbott, bioMérieux, Roche. You can also watch Andrea Pitkus presentation at the last LOINC conference [2] presented that study.
More such manufactures may also be inquired to the LOINC team and the IICC [3]
hope this can help you,
Xavier
/./././
1- Cholan RA, Pappas G, Rehwoldt G, Sills AK, Korte ED, Appleton IK, et al. Encoding laboratory testing data: case studies of the national implementation of HHS requirements and related standards in five laboratories. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 2022.
The problem we have found with most device manufacturers is that they don’t care about standards so one is always in the situation of mapping their proprietary stuff to a standard.
Your original post stated the instrument was Abbott’s, and they have been involved in the IVD consortium since inception. Please ask and see what you are provided.
Your original post stated the instrument was Abbott’s, and they have been involved in the IVD consortium since inception. Please ask and see what you are provided.
I already know what the instrument communicates. Simple strings with things like LDL/HDL=0.88 over an RS232 connection. So I need to convert these into some codes. This is a personal health device by the way - used at home.
