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The classification scheme is responsive to changes in medicine and medical technology in many ways; there are constant changes in the allopathic understanding and description of diseases reflected in the classification scheme itself. The development of new diagnostic technology in the 1940s, for example, led to the reclassification of tuberculosis (otherwise there would have been too many cases). The 1955 edition of Diagnostic Standards and Classification of Tuberculosis notes that new laboratory tests had made it more difficult to decide whether a particular case of tuberculosis was active or inactive, since activity could now be seen at sites previously considered inactive. At the same time, one would not necessarily want to call the "new" active sites cases of tuberculosis, since they very well may not progress to the point of needing treatment. The committee cites the 1955 version of the book. "The Committee, however, recognizes the fact that all classifications are ephemeral. They are useful only as long as they serve their purpose. The purpose of a clinical classification of tuberculosis is, however, a most important one. On it depend such matters as legal requirements for isolation, medico-legal considerations with respect to compensation for disability, standards for the return of patients to work, and similar matters" (Diagnostic Standards and Classification of Tuberculosis, 1955: 6). We will discuss the classification of tuberculosis in more detail in chapter 5. For another similar example, the discovery of the lentiviruses led to the description of a new set of disease entities: slow-acting viruses from which one could suffer asymptotically for extended periods. |
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In the interests of creating a working infrastructure, Aristotelian principles are here deliberately violated: |
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C15 Malignant neoplasms of oesophagus |
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Note: Two alternative subclassifications are given: |
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.0.2 by anatomical description |
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.3.5 by thirds |
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This departure from the principle that categories should be mutually exclusive is deliberate, since both forms of terminology are in use but the resulting anatomical divisions are not analogous. (ICD-10, 1: 190) |
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Where the state of the art is unclear, so is the scheme itself, |
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Note: The terms used in categories C82-C85 for non-Hodgkin's lymphomas are those of the Working Formulation, which attempt to find common ground among several major classification schemes. The terms used in these schemes are not given in the Tabular List but appear in the Alphabetical Index; exact equivalence with the terms appearing in the Tabular List is not always possible. Includes: morphology codes M959M994 with behaviour code /3. |
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