ISO 16843-2:2025
(Main)Health informatics — Categorial structures for representation of acupuncture — Part 2: Needling
Health informatics — Categorial structures for representation of acupuncture — Part 2: Needling
This document specifies categorial structures within the subject field of acupuncture needling (specialized for using filiform needles) by defining a set of domain constraints. This document describes a concept system detailing domain constraints of sanctioned characteristics, each composed of a semantic link and an applicable characterizing category.
Informatique de santé — Structures catégoriques pour la représentation de l'acupuncture — Partie 2: Puncture
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Buy Standard
Standards Content (Sample)
International
Standard
ISO 16843-2
First edition
Health informatics — Categorial
2025-07
structures for representation of
acupuncture —
Part 2:
Needling
Informatique de santé — Structures catégoriques pour la
représentation de l'acupuncture —
Partie 2: Puncture
Reference number
© ISO 2025
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
3.1 General terms .1
3.2 Characterizing categories .2
4 Categorial structure . 5
4.1 Overview .5
4.2 Semantic links .6
4.2.1 Measures .6
4.2.2 Causes.6
4.2.3 Result of .6
4.2.4 Evaluation of .6
4.2.5 Co-occurs with .6
4.2.6 Precedes .7
4.2.7 Produce .7
4.2.8 Be applied to .7
Bibliography . 8
iii
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through
ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee
has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations,
governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely
with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described
in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types
of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the
ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
ISO draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a)
patent(s). ISO takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent
rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO had not received notice of (a)
patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that
this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at
www.iso.org/patents. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions
related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the World Trade
Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 215, Health informatics, Joint Working Group
JWG 1 “Joint ISO/TC 215 ‒ ISO/TC 249 WG Traditional Chinese Medicine (Informatics)”.
This first edition of ISO 16843-2 cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/TS 16843-2:2015), which has
been technically revised.
The main changes are as follows:
— categories of sham acupuncture and response sought have been deleted;
— categories of insertion techniques, needling manipulation and additional stimulation method are
collectively defined as technique;
— the term “needle retaining” has been added;
— the term “abnormal situation” has been changed to “acupuncture-related adverse events”.
A list of all parts in the ISO 16843 series can be found on the ISO website.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
iv
Introduction
Acupuncture is a branch of traditional Chinese medicine which mainly involves the theory of meridians,
location, usage, indications and combinations of acupoints, needling manipulations and application of
ignited moxa in the treatment of disease through regulation of qi, blood and visceral functions.
Acupuncture therapy is widely practiced as a part of complementary and alternative medicine throughout
East Asia and in western countries.
A guideline for reporting acupuncture interventions in clinical trials is already available, and many clinical
and animal trials have been conducted to assess efficacy and efficiency of acupuncture therapy. However,
the descriptions of acupuncture interventions in clinical reports tend to be insufficient for interpretation
of heterogeneity among trials, often causing difficulties for data synthesis in meta-analyses. This arises for
three reasons: firstly, an appropriate information structure of acupuncture needling is not used; secondly
certain concepts within traditional medicine practice in the western pacific-rim region originated in
China and are frequently not sufficiently considered; thirdly semantic associations between concepts of
acupuncture needling are not explicitly identified.
This document defines the categorial structures within the subject field of acupuncture needling in order to
achieve higher efficiency in application of acupuncture.
The potential benefits of this document include:
a) supporting developers of new terminology systems concerning acupuncture needling;
b) supporting developers of new detailed content areas of existing terminology systems concerning
acupuncture needling procedures to ensure accuracy, repeatability and comparability;
c) facilitating the representation of acupuncture needling procedures using a standard core model in a
manner suitable for computer processing;
d) providing a conceptual framework for the generation of compositional concept representation of
acupuncture needling;
e) facilitating the mapping and improved semantic correspondence between different terminologies by
proposing a core specification for acupuncture needling;
f) providing a core model to describe the structure of acupuncture, and facilitating improved semantic
correspondence with information models;
g) providing a tool for acupuncture text mining, database construction, ancient documents processing and
wide area of acupuncture information collection and processing;
h) providing a new method for researchers to conduct relevant research, and ideas for the development of
acupuncture disciplines.
Target groups include:
— stakeholders such as companies that offer systems that incorporate electronic categorial structures, by
helping building knowledge databases or automatic processing of medical literature;
— doctors, who can be better assisted with knowledge and documentation of needling procedures.
This document can also be used to support clinical decisions and to help researchers in data mining.
v
International Standard ISO 16843-2:2025(en)
Health informatics — Categorial structures for representation
of acupuncture —
Part 2:
Needling
1 Scope
This document specifies categorial structures within the subject field of acupuncture needling (specialized
for using filiform needles) by defining a set of domain constraints.
This document describes a concept system detailing domain constraints of sanctioned characteristics, each
composed of a semantic link and an applicable characterizing category.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1 General terms
3.1.1
concept
unit of knowledge created by a unique combination of characteristics (3.1.4)
Note 1 to entry: A concept can have one or more names. It can be represented using one or more terms, pictures, icons
or sounds.
[SOURCE: ISO 17115:2020, 3.1.8, modified — The original notes to entry were removed and a new Note 1 to
entry was added.]
3.1.2
categorial structure
minimal set of domain constraints for representing concept (3.1.1) systems in a subject field
[SOURCE: ISO 17115:2020, 3.1.1]
3.1.3
category
division of sets of entities regarded as having particular shared characteristic (3.1.4)
EXAMPLE Oral route, subcutaneous route and all other routes share characteristics particular to the category route.
Note 1 to entry: Categories can be more or less general. Where one category is subsumed by another, there is a relation
asserted to obtain a hierarchy between the more specific or subsumed category and the more general or subsuming
category. For example, parenteral route is more general than intravenous route.
[SOURCE: ISO/TS 23303:2020, 3.1.2, modified — The example was changed.]
3.1.4
characteristic
abstraction of a property of an entity or of a set of entities
EXAMPLE Fever is a characteristic symptom of flu.
Note 1 to entry: Characteristics are used for describing concepts (3.1.1) and for differentiating categories (3.1.3).
[SOURCE: ISO 1087:2019, 3.2.1, modified — “of an entity or of a set of entities” was added to the definition;
the Example was changed; “and for differentiating categories” was added to Note 1 to entry.]
3.1.5
semantic link
formal representation of a directed associative relation or partitive relation between two concepts (3.1.1)
EXAMPLE is Cause Of (with inverse has Cause); has Location (with inverse is Location Of).
Note 1 to entry: This includes all relations except the generic relation.
Note 2 to entry: A semantic link always has an inverse, i.e. another semantic link with the opposite direction.
[SOURCE: ISO 17115:2020, 3.2.5, modified — the Example was changed.]
3.2 Characterizing categories
3.2.1
acupuncture needling
use of different needles to penetrate and s
...
FINAL DRAFT
International
Standard
ISO/FDIS 16843-2
ISO/TC 215
Health informatics — Categorial
Secretariat: ANSI
structures for representation of
Voting begins on:
acupuncture —
2025-04-15
Part 2:
Voting terminates on:
2025-06-10
Needling
Informatique de santé — Structures catégoriques pour la
représentation de l'acupuncture —
Partie 2: Puncture
RECIPIENTS OF THIS DRAFT ARE INVITED TO SUBMIT,
WITH THEIR COMMENTS, NOTIFICATION OF ANY
RELEVANT PATENT RIGHTS OF WHICH THEY ARE AWARE
AND TO PROVIDE SUPPOR TING DOCUMENTATION.
IN ADDITION TO THEIR EVALUATION AS
BEING ACCEPTABLE FOR INDUSTRIAL, TECHNO-
LOGICAL, COMMERCIAL AND USER PURPOSES, DRAFT
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS MAY ON OCCASION HAVE
TO BE CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THEIR POTENTIAL
TO BECOME STAN DARDS TO WHICH REFERENCE MAY BE
MADE IN NATIONAL REGULATIONS.
Reference number
ISO/FDIS 16843-2:2025(en) © ISO 2025
FINAL DRAFT
ISO/FDIS 16843-2:2025(en)
International
Standard
ISO/FDIS 16843-2
ISO/TC 215
Health informatics — Categorial
Secretariat: ANSI
structures for representation of
Voting begins on:
acupuncture —
Part 2:
Voting terminates on:
Needling
Informatique de santé — Structures catégoriques pour la
représentation de l'acupuncture —
Partie 2: Puncture
RECIPIENTS OF THIS DRAFT ARE INVITED TO SUBMIT,
WITH THEIR COMMENTS, NOTIFICATION OF ANY
RELEVANT PATENT RIGHTS OF WHICH THEY ARE AWARE
AND TO PROVIDE SUPPOR TING DOCUMENTATION.
© ISO 2025
IN ADDITION TO THEIR EVALUATION AS
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
BEING ACCEPTABLE FOR INDUSTRIAL, TECHNO-
LOGICAL, COMMERCIAL AND USER PURPOSES, DRAFT
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS MAY ON OCCASION HAVE
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
TO BE CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THEIR POTENTIAL
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
TO BECOME STAN DARDS TO WHICH REFERENCE MAY BE
MADE IN NATIONAL REGULATIONS.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland Reference number
ISO/FDIS 16843-2:2025(en) © ISO 2025
ii
ISO/FDIS 16843-2:2025(en)
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
3.1 General terms .1
3.2 Characterizing categories .2
4 Categorial structure . 5
4.1 Overview .5
4.2 Semantic links .6
4.2.1 Measures .6
4.2.2 Causes.6
4.2.3 Result of .6
4.2.4 Evaluation of .6
4.2.5 Co-occurs with .6
4.2.6 Precedes .7
4.2.7 Produce .7
4.2.8 Be applied to .7
Bibliography . 8
iii
ISO/FDIS 16843-2:2025(en)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through
ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee
has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations,
governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely
with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described
in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types
of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the
ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
ISO draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a)
patent(s). ISO takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent
rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO had not received notice of (a)
patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that
this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at
www.iso.org/patents. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions
related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the World Trade
Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 215, Health informatics, Joint Working Group
JWG 1 “Joint ISO/TC 215 ‒ ISO/TC 249 WG Traditional Chinese Medicine (Informatics)”.
This first edition of ISO 16843-2 cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/TS 16843-2:2015), which has
been technically revised.
The main changes are as follows:
— categories of sham acupuncture and response sought have been deleted;
— categories of insertion techniques, needling manipulation and additional stimulation method are
collectively defined as technique;
— the term “needle retaining” has been added;
— the term “abnormal situation” has been changed to “acupuncture-related adverse events”.
A list of all parts in the ISO 16843 series can be found on the ISO website.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
iv
ISO/FDIS 16843-2:2025(en)
Introduction
Acupuncture is a branch of traditional Chinese medicine which mainly involves the theory of meridians,
location, usage, indications and combinations of acupoints, needling manipulations and application of
ignited moxa in the treatment of disease through regulation of qi, blood and visceral functions.
Acupuncture therapy is widely practiced as a part of complementary and alternative medicine throughout
East Asia and in western countries.
A guideline for reporting acupuncture interventions in clinical trials is already available, and many clinical
and animal trials have been conducted to assess efficacy and efficiency of acupuncture therapy. However,
the descriptions of acupuncture interventions in clinical reports tend to be insufficient for interpretation
of heterogeneity among trials, often causing difficulties for data synthesis in meta-analyses. This arises for
three reasons: firstly, an appropriate information structure of acupuncture needling is not used; secondly
certain concepts within traditional medicine practice in the western pacific-rim region originated in
China and are frequently not sufficiently considered; thirdly semantic associations between concepts of
acupuncture needling are not explicitly identified.
This document defines the categorial structures within the subject field of acupuncture needling in order to
achieve higher efficiency in application of acupuncture.
The potential benefits of this document include:
a) supporting developers of new terminology systems concerning acupuncture needling;
b) supporting developers of new detailed content areas of existing terminology systems concerning
acupuncture needling procedures to ensure accuracy, repeatability and comparability;
c) facilitating the representation of acupuncture needling procedures using a standard core model in a
manner suitable for computer processing;
d) providing a conceptual framework for the generation of compositional concept representation of
acupuncture needling;
e) facilitating the mapping and improved semantic correspondence between different terminologies by
proposing a core specification for acupuncture needling;
f) providing a core model to describe the structure of acupuncture, and facilitating improved semantic
correspondence with information models;
g) providing a tool for acupuncture text mining, database construction, ancient documents processing and
wide area of acupuncture information collection and processing;
h) providing a new method for researchers to conduct relevant research, and ideas for the development of
acupuncture disciplines.
Target groups include:
— stakeholders such as companies that offer systems that incorporate electronic categorial structures, by
helping building knowledge databases or automatic processing of medical literature;
— doctors, who can be better assisted with knowledge and documentation of needling procedures.
This document can also be used to support clinical decisions and to help researchers in data mining.
v
FINAL DRAFT International Standard ISO/FDIS 16843-2:2025(en)
Health informatics — Categorial structures for representation
of acupuncture —
Part 2:
Needling
1 Scope
This document specifies categorial structures within the subject field of acupuncture needling (specialized
for using filiform needles) by defining a set of domain constraints.
This document describes a concept system detailing domain constraints of sanctioned characteristics, each
composed of a semantic link and an applicable characterizing category.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1 General terms
3.1.1
concept
unit of knowledge created by a unique combination of characteristics (3.1.4)
Note 1 to entry: A concept can have one or more names. It can be represented using one or more terms, pictures, icons
or sounds.
[SOURCE: ISO 17115:2020, 3.1.8, modified — The original notes to entry were removed and a new Note 1 to
entry was added.]
3.1.2
categorial structure
minimal set of domain constraints for representing concept (3.1.1) systems in a subject field
[SOURCE: ISO 17115:2020, 3.1.1]
3.1.3
category
division of sets of entities regarded as having particular shared characteristic (3.1.4)
EXAMPLE Oral route, subcutaneous route and all other routes share characteristics particular to the category route.
------------
...
ISO/DISFDIS 16843-2:2024(en)
ISO/TC 215
Secretariat: ANSI
Date: 2024-10-242025-04-01
Health informatics — Categorial structures for representation of
acupuncture — —
Part 2:
Needling
Informatique de santé — Structures catégoriques pour la représentation de l'acupuncture —
Partie 2: Puncture
FDIS stage
ISO/DISFDIS 16843-2:2025(en)
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication
may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
or posting on the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO
at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: + 41 22 749 01 11
EmailE-mail: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
© ISO/DIS 16843-2 2025 – All rights reserved
ii
ISO/DISFDIS 16843-2:20242025(en)
Contents
Foreword . iv
Introduction . v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
3.1 General terms . 1
3.2 Characterizing categories . 2
4 Categorial structure . 5
4.1 Overview . 5
4.2 Semantic links . 7
Bibliography . 10
iii
ISO/DISFDIS 16843-2:2025(en)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through
ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been
established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and
non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described
in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types of
ISO documentdocuments should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules
of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
ISO draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a)
patent(s). ISO takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent rights
in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO had not received notice of (a) patent(s)
which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that this may not
represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at
www.iso.org/patents. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions
related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO'sISO’s adherence to the World Trade
Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 215, Health informatics., Joint Working Group
JWG 1 “Joint ISO/TC 215 ‒ ISO/TC 249 WG Traditional Chinese Medicine (Informatics)”.
This secondfirst edition of ISO 16843-2 cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/TS 16843-2:2015), which
has been technically revised.
The main changes are as follows:
— — categories of sham acupuncture and response sought have been deleted;
— — categories of insertion techniques, needling manipulation and additional stimulation method are
collectively defined as technique;
— — the term “needle retaining” has been added;
— — the term “abnormal situation” has been changed to “acupuncture-related adverse events”.
A list of all parts in the ISO 16843 series can be found on the ISO website.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
© ISO/DIS 16843-2 2025 – All rights reserved
iv
ISO/DISFDIS 16843-2:20242025(en)
Introduction
Acupuncture is a branch of traditional Chinese medicine which mainly involves the theory of meridians,
location, usage, indications and combinations of acupoints, needling manipulations and application of ignited
moxa in the treatment of disease through regulation of qi, blood and visceral functions.
Acupuncture therapy is widely practiced as a part of complementary and alternative medicine throughout
East Asia and in western countries.
A guideline for reporting acupuncture interventions in clinical trials is already available, and many clinical and
animal trials have been conducted to assess efficacy and efficiency of acupuncture therapy. However, the
descriptions of acupuncture interventions in clinical reports tend to be insufficient for interpretation of
heterogeneity among trials, often causing difficulties for data synthesis in meta-analyses. This arises for three
reasons: firstly, an appropriate information structure of acupuncture needling is not used; secondly certain
concepts within traditional medicine practice in the western pacific-rim region originated in China and are
frequently not sufficiently considered; thirdly semantic associations between concepts of acupuncture
needling are not explicitly identified.
This document defines the categorial structures within the subject field of acupuncture needling in order to
achieve higher efficiency in application of acupuncture.
The potential benefits of this document include:
The potential benefits of this document include:
a) a) supporting developers of new terminology systems concerning acupuncture needling;
b) b) supporting developers of new detailed content areas of existing terminology systems concerning
acupuncture needling procedures to ensure accuracy, repeatability and comparability;
c) c) facilitating the representation of acupuncture needling procedures using a standard core model in a
manner suitable for computer processing;
d) d) providing a conceptual framework for the generation of compositional concept representation of
acupuncture needling;
e) e) facilitating the mapping and improved semantic correspondence between different terminologies by
proposing a core specification for acupuncture needling;
f) f) providing a core model to describe the structure of acupuncture, and facilitating improved semantic
correspondence with information models;
g) g) providing a tool for acupuncture text mining, database construction, ancient documents processing
and wide area of acupuncture information collection and processing;
h) h) providing a new method for researchers to conduct relevant research, and ideas for the development
of acupuncture disciplines.
Target groups include:
— — stakeholders such as companies that offer systems that incorporate electronic categorial structures,
by helping building knowledge databases or automatic processing of medical literature;
— — doctors, who can be better assisted with knowledge and documentation of needling procedures.
v
ISO/DISFDIS 16843-2:2025(en)
This document can also be used into support clinical decision supportdecisions and to help researchers in data
mining.
This document defines the categorial structures within the subject field of acupuncture needling in order to
achieve higher efficiency in application of acupuncture.
© ISO/DIS 16843-2 2025 – All rights reserved
vi
DRAFT International Standard ISO/DIS 16843-2:2024(en)
Health informatics — Categorial structures for representation of
acupuncture — —
Part 2:
Needling
1 Scope
This document specifies categorial structures within the subject field of acupuncture needling (specialized for
using filiform needles) by defining a set of domain constraints.
This document describes a concept system detailing domain constraints of sanctioned characteristics, each
composed of a semantic link and an applicable characterizing category.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— — ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
— — IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
3.1 General terms
3.1.1 3.1.1
concept
unit of knowledge created by a unique combination of characteristics (3.1.4)
Note 1 to entry: A concept can have one or more names. It can be represented using one or more terms, pictures, icons
or sounds.
[SOURCE: ISO 17115:2020, 3.1.8, modified — The original notes to entry were removed and a new Note 1 to
entry was added.]
3.1.2 3.1.2
categorial structure
minimal set of domain constraints for representing concept (3.1.1) systems in a subject field
[SOURCE: ISO 17115:2020, 3.1.1]
3.1.3 3.1.3
category
division of sets of entities regarded as having particular shared characteristic (3.1.4(3.1.4))
ISO/FDIS 16843-2:2025(en)
EXAMPLE Oral route, subcutaneous route and all other routes share characteristics particular to the category route.
Note 1 to entry: Categories can be more or less general. Where one category is subsumed by another, there is a relation
asserted to obtain a hierarchy between the more specific or subsumed category and the more general or subsuming
category. For example, parenteral route is more general than intravenous route.
[SOURCE: ISO/TS 23303:2020, 3.1.2, modified — The example was changed.]
3.1.4 3.1.4
characteristic
abstraction of a property of an entity or of a set of entities
EXAMPLE Fever is a characteristic symptom of flu.
Note 1 to entry: Characteristics are used for describing concepts (3.1.1(3.1.1)) and for differentiating categories
(3.1.3(3.1.3).).
[SOURCE: ISO 1087:2019, 3.2.1, modified — “of an entity or of a set of entities” was added to the definition;
the Example was changed; “and for differentiating categories” was added to Note 1 to entry.]
3.1.5 3.1.5
semantic link
formal representation of a directed associative relation or partitive relation between two concepts (3.1.1)
EXAMPLE is Cause Of (with inverse has Cause); has Location (with inverse is Location Of).
Note 1 to entry: This includes all relations except the generic relation.
Note 2 to entry: A semantic link always has an inverse, i.e. another semantic link with the opposite direction.
[SOURCE: ISO 17115:2020, 3.2.5, modified — the Example was changed.]
3.2 Characterizing categories
3.2.1 3.2.1
acupuncture needling
use of different needles to penetrate and stimulate certain parts of the body through certain techniques to
prevent and cure diseases
3.2.2 3.2.2
needle grasping
technique of holding on the needles
3.2.3 3.2.3
insertion technique
technique of inserting the needle through the skin
EXAMPLE 1 Needle insertion with both hands: is a method to insert a needle into a point by using both the puncturing
hand and the pressing hand.
EXAMPLE 2 Nail-pressing insertion: is a method to press the skin of puncturing area with the nail of the thumb or the
index finger of the pressing hand and insert the needle against the fingernail with the needling hand.
EXAMPLE 3 Needle-holding insertion with both hands: is a method to hold the lower part of the needle body with a
piece of sterile cotton or gauze between the thumb and the index finger of the pressing hand while inserting a needle.
(Press the skin adjacent to the needling site with the nail of thumb or index finger of the pressing hand, while inserting a
needle against the fingernail with the needling hand).
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ISO/DISFDIS 16843-2:20242025(en)
EXAMPLE 4 Skin-pinching insertion: is a method to pinch and lift the skin of the puncturing area with the thumb and
the index finger of the pressing hand while inserting a needle.
EXAMPLE 5 Skin-stretching insertion: is a method to stretch the skin around the puncturing area with the thumb and
the index finger (or with the index and middle fingers) of the pressing hand while inserting a needle.
EXAMPLE 6 Needle insertion with one hand: is a method to insert a needle into a point by using the puncturing hand
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