Descriptions

A concept has multiple associated descriptions.

Each description has a description type and a unique numeric description identifier.

• Fully specified name (FSN) and synonym (SYN) are description types in SNOMED CT.

• A preferred term (PT) is a synonym that has been marked as preferred in a particular dialect.

Every concept may have only one preferred term in a specific dialect. Two preferred terms for the same language may coexist if they belong to two distinct dialects (e.g. variant US and GB of English language).

Examples

22490002 | Bleeding of mouth (disorder)|

Description type	Description
FSN	Bleeding of mouth (disorder)
PT	Bleeding of mouth
SYN	Bleeding in mouth
SYN - US English	Oral hemorrhage
SYN - GB English	Oral haemorrhage
SYN	Stomatorrhagia

241563001 | Computed tomography of upper limb (procedure)|

Description type	Description
FSN	Computed tomography of upper limb (procedure)
PT	CT of upper limb
SYN	Computed tomography of upper limb

32849002 | Esophageal structure (body structure)|

Description type	Description
FSN	Esophageal structure (body structure)
PT - US English	Esophageal structure
PT - GB English	Oesophageal structure

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