Description

Codes that indicate an absence of an appendix, either as a clinical finding or due to appendicectomy

Methodology

These codes were mapped first in SNOMED using the opencodelist builder. The search terms used were:

• Appendicectomy
• Appendectomy
• Appendix

Though a broad search term, "appendix" was included to capture codes such as "congenital absence" or "excision of appendix". 24 codes were identified in SNOMED.

The codes were discussed by 2 practicing GPs and 1 epidemiologist. A summary of the discussion is available on the github issue below.

These codes were mapped to CTV3 which resulted in 23 codes initially. One extinct code was removed, and a further 5 "unasssured" codes were added, leaving 27 codes in total.

References

• GitHub issue

Signed off by

• Will Hulme, (Sept. 24, 2020)
• Amir Mehrkar, (Sept. 24, 2020)
• Caroline Morton, (Sept. 24, 2020)