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Methods Inf Med 2005; 44(04): 498-507
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1634000
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH

A Terminological and Ontological Analysis of the NCI Thesaurus

W. Ceusters
1   European Centre for Ontological Research, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
,
B. Smith
2   Department of Philosophy, University at Buffalo, New York, USA
3   Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical Information Science, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
,
L. Goldberg
3   Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical Information Science, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
4   School of Dental Medicine, University at Buffalo, New York, USA
› Author Affiliations
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Publication History

Publication Date:
06 February 2018 (online)

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Summary

Objective: The National Cancer Institute Thesaurus is described by its authors as “a biomedical vocabulary that provides consistent, unambiguous codes and definitions for concepts used in cancer research” and which “exhibits ontology-like properties in its construction and use”. We performed a qualitative analysis of the Thesaurus in order to assess its conformity with principles of good practice in terminology and ontology design.

Materials and Methods: We used both the on-line browsable version of the Thesaurus and its OWL-representation (version 04.08b, released on August 2, 2004), measuring each in light of the requirements put forward in relevant ISO terminology standards and in light of ontological principles advanced in the recent literature.

Results: We found many mistakes and inconsistencies with respect to the term-formation principles used, the underlying knowledge representation system, and missing or inappropriately assigned verbal and formal definitions.

Conclusion: Version 04.08b of the NCI Thesaurus suffers from the same broad range of problems that have been observed in other biomedical terminologies. For its further development, we recommend the use of a more principled approach that allows the Thesaurus to be tested not just for internal consistency but also for its degree of correspondence to that part of reality which it is designed to represent.

Keywords

Ontology - medical terminology - standardization - quality control
 

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