Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 11, 2025

Author Spotlight: An Efficient and Robust Software for Automated Fusion of Multiple Preclinical Imaging Modalities
Published on: October 27, 2023
Ontologies in the New Computational Age of Radiology: RadLex for Semantics and Interoperability in Imaging Workflows
Leonid L Chepelev1, David Kwan1, Charles E Kahn1
1From the Joint Department of Medical Imaging, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto General Hospital, 585 University Ave, 1-PMB 286, Toronto, ON, Canada M5G 2N2 (L.L.C.); Insygnia Consulting, Toronto, ON, Canada (D.K.); Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (C.E.K.); Department of Radiology, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC (R.W.F.); and Imaging Service, Baltimore VA Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, and Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD (K.C.W.).
Precise medical terminology, like the RadLex ontology, is crucial for advancing patient care and integrating biomedical information. This ensures interoperability across research, education, and clinical applications, especially with AI.
Area of Science:
- Medical Informatics
- Radiology
- Ontology Engineering
Background:
- Effective medical communication relies on precise terminology, but variations in disease presentation and discipline-specific language hinder shared understanding.
- Common medical terminologies are essential for interoperability and integrating biomedical information for clinical practice, research, and education.
- Ontologies offer formalized knowledge representation, specifying concepts and relationships unambiguously for human and machine interpretation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce ontologies and semantic web technologies used in developing RadLex.
- To present examples of RadLex applications in radiology education, clinical care, and research.
- To discuss emerging applications of RadLex, particularly in artificial intelligence.
Main Methods:
- Explanation of ontologies as formalized knowledge representations.
- Overview of semantic web technologies underpinning RadLex development.
- Illustrative examples of RadLex in practice and future potential.
Main Results:
- RadLex serves as a shared domain model (ontology) for radiology, facilitating information integration.
- The use of common terminologies like RadLex is increasingly vital for computational resource integration in medicine.
- Emerging applications, including AI, highlight the growing importance of RadLex.
Conclusions:
- RadLex is a key initiative for standardizing radiological terminology.
- Ontologies and semantic web technologies are fundamental to RadLex's utility.
- RadLex is poised to play a significant role in the future of radiology, especially with AI advancements.
Related Concept Videos
Positron Emission Tomography
One of the main requirements of a PET scan is a positron-emitting radioisotope, which is produced in a cyclotron and then attached to a substance used by the part of the body...
Radiological Investigation I: X-ray and CT
X-ray Imaging
Computed Tomography
The technique was invented in the 1970s and is based on the principle that as X-rays pass through the body, they are absorbed or reflected at different levels. In the technique, a patient lies on a motorized platform while a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanner rotates...
Imaging Studies II: Positron Emission Tomography and Scintigraphy
Fundamental Principles of PET
Imaging Studies III: Computed Tomography

