FindingClass

The next-generation CDE vocabulary’s node type for a finding definition: the counterpart of a CDE set or an OIDM finding model in a graph-shaped model. A FindingClass is described by ordinary DataElements reached through element bindings, sits in an is-a taxonomy of subtypes, and carries standard clinical metadata: “the seven facts on a class: modality, body region, subspecialty, sex, age, time course, and etiology.”¹

Two scoping mechanisms are defined on classes. Anatomic scope states the eligible anatomical places, tissue types, or structure types for the definition. Component-of scope states “the finding classes a component class belongs inside, stated on the component class”; a class with a component-of scope “is never reported on its own,” and component classes are specific to a lesion family.¹

The separation of Diagnosis from Finding was agreed on a working-group call as a structural decision, making the finding-to-diagnosis link an explicit relationship rather than a blurred single node type.²

Synonyms and near-synonyms

• Finding model is the OIDM artifact at the same granularity, with attributes owned rather than bound.
• CDE set is the currently published counterpart.
• Diagnosis is a separate node type in this vocabulary, not a kind of FindingClass.
• AssessmentScheme is described as “analogous to a FindingClass with its descriptors” but is its own node type.¹
• In IHE IDR the same content lands on bodyStructure.includedStructure.morphology and on the root Observation.code of a finding set.³

Identifier form

Working identifiers in the alpha implementation take the form FC-######, for example FC-000005 for pulmonary nodule. These are prototype identifiers, not a published scheme.

Where it is used

Next-generation vocabulary and Finding model format evolution.

Conflicts

IHE IDR uses “finding” for the presence-or-absence determination rather than for the named entity, and routes positive clinical findings to FHIR Condition while negative ones become Observations. The next-generation notes record a different working default, that every assertion in a radiology report including diagnoses is encoded as an Observation, and list the divergence as an item to raise with IHE.³

Footnotes

1. CDE vocabulary, next-generation working glossary ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Working group call extract, 20 August 2026 ↩

3. IHE IDR Phase II extract ↩ ↩²