Improving the FAIRness of vascular anomaly research data using the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA) Ontology

To support diagnosis, management, and further research of vascular anomalies, Mulliken and Glowacki created a comprehensive classification system for vascular anomalies. The International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA, i.e., the society for specialists of various medical disciplines involved in the treatment of patients afflicted with vascular anomalies), adopted this classification in 1996. The current version of the classificaation is available as a PDF file, which does not allow for structured registration of these diagnoses using unique identifiers, nor implementation in software systems. To make the data for vascular anomaly research more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR), it is important that these diagnoses are registered in a structured and machine-readable manner. The Vascular Anomalies European Reference Network (VASCERN) and its Registry of Rare Vascular Anomalies (VASCA), therefore, adopted the ISSVA classification and created a machine-readable representation of the classification: the ISSVA ontology.

In this session, we will present the ISSVA ontology. We will also present our lessons learned from creating an ontology out of a classification and (semi-automatically) mapping the ontology to existing ontologies.