Automatic encoding of clinical narrative

An experiment in the automatic encoding of English-language medical data is described. The encoding program has two stages. First, the free-text input is parsed and the information is arranged in a tabular format by a general-purpose natural language processor developed at New York University. Then a simple code-dependent subprogram assigns numerical values to the entries on the basis of the positions the input words occupy in the information format. Results of a blind test of the encoding program using the code employed at Roswell Park Memorial Institute for earliest symptoms of head-neck cancer are presented.