Foundational Model of Anatomy

Foundational Model of Anatomy

File:Foundational Model of Anatomy.png

A diagram illustrating the Foundational Model of Anatomy

The Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) is a reference ontology for the domain of anatomy. It is a symbolic representation of the phenotypic structure of the human body. The FMA was developed by the Structural Informatics Group at the University of Washington.

Overview

The FMA is a domain ontology that represents a coherent body of explicit declarative knowledge about human anatomy. Its ontology takes the form of a directed acyclic graph where each node corresponds to an anatomical entity and each arc represents an anatomical relationship between two entities.

Structure

The FMA is structured into four major components: Anatomical entities, Anatomical relationships, Anatomical attributes, and Anatomical transformations.

Anatomical Entities

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Anatomical Entities in the Foundational Model of Anatomy

Anatomical entities are the basic building blocks of the FMA. They are the objects or concepts that are represented in the ontology. These include entities such as organs, tissues, cells, and molecules.

Anatomical Relationships

Anatomical relationships are the connections between anatomical entities. They represent the ways in which entities are related to each other. These relationships can be spatial (e.g., part-of, located-in), temporal (e.g., precedes, follows), or functional (e.g., connected-to, interacts-with).

Anatomical Attributes

Anatomical attributes are properties or characteristics of anatomical entities. They include properties such as size, shape, color, and location.

Anatomical Transformations

Anatomical transformations represent changes in anatomical entities over time. These can include growth, development, aging, and disease processes.

Applications

The FMA has been used in a variety of applications, including biomedical research, clinical informatics, and education. It provides a common framework for integrating and analyzing anatomical data from multiple sources.

See also

• Anatomy Ontology
• Medical Subject Headings
• Unified Medical Language System