What's in a name? Change to Ramsays?

An example from ICD-11 of the eponymous name listed under Synonyms to the Fully Specified Name. (The asterisk at the end of "Ramsay-Hunt syndrome" denotes which of the Synonyms terms is the Specified Inclusion to the Fully Specified Name: Geniculate ganglionitis):


ICD-11:


https://icd.who.int/dev11/f/en#/http://id.who.int/icd/entity/305361524

Geniculate ganglionitis

Synonyms
  • Ramsay-Hunt syndrome *
  • Ramsay-Hunt disease or syndrome
Narrower Terms
  • Hunt neuralgia
-------------------


There is also a "Ramsay Hunt cerebellar syndrome" which is a different disorder listed elsewhere in ICD-11.



In SNOMED CT, the cerebellar disorder is listed as "Ramsay Hunt syndrome 1", to distinguish it from Herpes zosta auricularis, which is listed as "Ramsay Hunt syndrome 2".)


SNOMED CT:


Using "Ramsay Hunt" as an example of an eponymous term in SNOMED CT, when searched for within SNOMED CT, a number of SCTID Concept codes will be offered for selection, since "Ramsay Hunt" has been used in association with a number of different disorders and there is also a Ramsay sedation scale.

The terms in grey down the right side of the search engine returns are the terms which are the SNOMED CT "Fully specified name (FSN)" and the designated "Preferred term" for that specific SCTID Concept code. The eponymous term is listed under Synonyms to the FSN.

This screenshot displays the entry for

SCTID 21954000 Herpes zoster auricularis (disorder)

which has "Ramsay Hunt syndrome 2" listed at the end of the Synonyms list:

https://browser.ihtsdotools.org/?pe....org/api/snomed&langRefset=900000000000509007

ramsay-hunt1.png





I hope this example will serve to demonstrate that eponymous terms lack specificity and may result in incorrect terms being entered into electronic medical record systems.

The fact that there are already several terms associated with the name "Ramsay" and "Ramsay Hunt" is incidental. But I have selected "Ramsay Hunt" as an example because it has been necessary to distinguish between two syndromes both associated with the name "Ramsay Hunt" - Progressive cerebellar tremor and Herpes zoster auricularis.
 
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And if I haven't already mentioned it, according to the ICD-11 Reference Guide and Content Model, the convention for ICD-11 is that no eponyms are followed by a possessive apostrophe (where the name ends in an "s") or a possessive apostrophe + "s".

For ICD-11, it is Down syndrome; Parkinson disease; Williams-Beuren syndrome etc.

So even if the WHO were to consider a formal proposal supported by evidence for adding an additional term under Synonyms, Inclusions or Index terms, it would be styled as "Ramsay disease" not "Ramsay's disease".
 
Addendum to Post 41

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsay_Hunt_syndrome

[Extract]

Three different neurological syndromes carry the name of Ramsay Hunt syndrome. Their only connection is that they were all first described by the famous neurologist James Ramsay Hunt (1872–1937).

 
I noticed that both Solve and the MEA have schemes named after Ramsay
M.E. (myalgic encephalomyelitis) or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, blights the lives of 250,000 people in UK today.
The Ramsay Research Fund is the research arm of the ME Association. It supports vital research into the causes and treatment of ME/CFS, to help find answers and to give thousands of people hope.
Solve M.E. supports investigative research into the underlying causes of ME/CFS through the Ramsay Grant Program; an open, peer-reviewed competition for grants to support pilot studies.
https://solvecfs.org/about-the-ramsay-grant-program/

this from 2015 L. Jason
Perhaps we might consider re-activating the brilliant scholarship of Dr. Melvin Ramsay and the term Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, which would identify a smaller more homogenous group of patients as having ME. In contrast, those meeting the broader IOM criteria, which we might call neuroendocrine dysfunction syndrome (which had been recommended by the patient inspired Name Change workgroup over a decade ago) could replace CFS and this category would represent a larger group captured by the key IOM symptoms. Those that do not meet the ME criteria or the broader IOM criteria could be classified as having chronic fatigue, which is the most general category, and represents those with six or more months of fatigue. Such a tripartite classification system would eliminate the detested term CFS, validate the original respected name ME, differentiate ME from the IOM criteria, and provide a new nonstigmatizing term for those not meeting the more restrictive ME criteria.
https://blog.oup.com/2015/09/patients-battle-for-justice/

and on OMF website
Dr. Melvin Ramsay (from the Royal Free Infectious Diseases department) would call the illness Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). Dr. Ramsay definition remains one of the best clinical descriptions of the illness and several years later the condition would be recognized by the World Health Organisation in 1969.
https://www.omf.ngo/history-mecfs/
 
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And if I haven't already mentioned it, according to the ICD-11 Reference Guide and Content Model, the convention for ICD-11 is that no eponyms are followed by a possessive apostrophe (where the name ends in an "s") or a possessive apostrophe + "s".

For ICD-11, it is Down syndrome; Parkinson disease; Williams-Beuren syndrome etc.

So even if the WHO were to consider a formal proposal supported by evidence for adding an additional term under Synonyms, Inclusions or Index terms, it would be styled as "Ramsay disease" not "Ramsay's disease".

yet we have "Parkinson's disease"
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/parkinsons-disease
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/parkinsons-disease/

The BPS lot seem to be able to create names for invented disorders at the drop of a hat.

There is nothing to stop the ME/CFS community, and biomedical researchers using say
Ramsay's PIND (Post infection neuroimmune disease) Ramsays for short.
The WHO and Snomed might not like it and may take a while to accept it but once it was mainstream...........
 
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