The ontological challenge of laterality

A modern hospital information system should offer intelligent choices when the user wants to select an anatomical location. For the measurement of intra-arterial blood pressure, for example, the primary choice should be like ABDOMINAL AORTA, RENAL ARTERY, THORACIC AORTA .... And only when the user chooses RENAL ARTERY an additional choice of LEFT/RIGHT is shown – not when he chooses ABDOMINAL AORTA. Also, it would not be acceptable if the system shows RENAL ARTERY, RIGHT RENAL ARTERY, LEFT RENAL ARTERY parallel in one menu. Handling of laterality in the FMA: The Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) (University of Washington, 2012) does not list the renal arteries as parts/branches of the AORTA, so lets use the INFERIOR PHRENIC ARTERY as an example when looking at the FMA. There, all three: INFERIOR PHRENIC ARTERY and its subconcepts LEFT INFERIOR PHRENIC ARTERY and RIGHT INFERIOR PHRENIC ARTERY are listed equally as parts/branches of the ABDOMINAL AORTA, without difference. So, a dynamic GUI generator can not rely directly on the FMA for anatomical information.