Who cares what the WHO says.
Because if you want your medical term of choice (whatever that term might be) entered as the
Title term within WHO's forthcoming ICD-11 and in the country specific "clinical modifications" that will be developed from the ICD-11 (which are obliged to adapt the core version to conform to WHO taxonomy conventions for ICD), then is it sensible to consider WHO and ICD Revision policies, since it is WHO/ICD Revision that
approves which terms are entered into the classification as
coded for ICD Title terms.
This applies also to the SNOMED CT clinical terminology system that is in use in many countries. ICD-11 will be integrable with SNOMED CT.
I do not consider it advantageous to lobby for the adoption of a new eponym based medical term that WHO/ICD Revision is likely to reject as the coded for term.
Also, any new term would need to be acceptable to and approved by NCHS/CDC if it is to be inserted into the forthcoming U.S. ICD-10-CM* as a
billable code, either with a unique code created for it, or as an inclusion term to an existing coded term.
NCHS is obliged to modify the ICD-10-CM code set in accordance with WHO ICD taxonomy conventions.
Note also: ICD-11 has the capacity in its electronic version (but not its print versions) for lengthy lists of terms under "Synonyms."
So for some diseases, there will be the
Title term (or concept term) that is coded for; then sometimes an
Inclusion term is specified which is assigned to the same code. Then there may be a list of other terms under
Synonyms which are not coded for. Then there may be a list of
Index terms.
"Synonyms are alternative names for the same underlying concept, including common terms and medical jargon. Synonyms are not intended to be used interchangeably with the concept title, but help users to locate the proper code within the ICD. The concept title will have precedence over synonyms for international reporting." Source: ICD-11 Glossary of Terms
But the U.S. ICD-10-CM Tabular List tends to be restricted to the Title term (which is assigned the code) and one or more inclusion terms, which are listed beneath the coded term and assigned to the same code. Within ICD-10-CM, there are no lists of uncoded for Synonym terms within the Tabular List.
A Synonym term which was not specified as an inclusion term in the Tabular List would be placed (if approved for addition by NCHS) in the Index.
*The U.S. specific, ICD-10-CM, is scheduled for implementation on October 1, 2015. The ICD-10-CM code set is currently subject to partial code freeze. Partial code freeze scheduled to lift 12 months after ICD-10-CM implementation, on October 1, 2016, when regular update cycle will resume. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/icd/icd9cm_maintenance.htm
