NN.5 Structure of The Specimen Module
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## NN.5 Structure of The Specimen Module

The Specimen Module content is specified as a Macro as an editorial convention to facilitate its use in both Composite IODs and in the Modality Worklist Information Model.

The Module has two main sections. The first deals with the specimen container. The second deals with the specimens within that container. Because more than one specimen may reside in single container, the specimen section is set up as a sequence.

The Container section is divided two "sub-sections":

- One deals with the Specimen Container ID and the Container Type. Note that the "Container Identifier" is a required field.

- One deals with Container Components. Because there may be more than one component, this section is set up as a sequence.

The Specimen Description Sequence contains five "sub-sections"

- One deals with the Specimen ID

- One deals with descriptions of the specimen

- One deals with preparation of the specimen and its ancestor specimens (including sampling, processing and staining). Because of its importance in interpreting slide images, staining is distinguished from other processing. Specimen preparation is set up as sequence of process steps (multiple steps are possible); each step is in turn a sequence of content items (attributes using coded vocabularies). This is the most complex part of the module.

- One deals with the original anatomic location of the specimen in the patient.

- One deals with specimen localization within a container. This is used to identify specimens when there is more than one in a container. It is set up as sequence.

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