CareLex Terminology Files

CareLex terminology files provided here support the electronic Trial Master File Standard (eTMF), as described more fully on the CareLex website.

CareLex terminology files are available for download from this NCI EVS ftp site (https://evs.nci.nih.gov/ftp1/CareLex/) in two formats:

CareLex.xlsx (Microsoft Excel)
CareLex.txt (Tab-delimited text)

Additionally, the CareLex eTMF term OWL file can be downloaded from the CareLex site.

Each file has column headers on the first row:

Spreadsheet Column Content Description
NCIt Subset Code The NCIt concept code attached to the subset concept. NCIt Codes are unique strings that begin with a C and are followed by a series of digits.
Carelex Subset Preferred Term The CareLex preferred term attached to the subset concept.
NCIt Concept Code A unique and permanent identifier attached to every concept. The actual string carries no information other than to provide a machine readable piece of identification to every concept.
NCIt Preferred Term The term chosen by NCI EVS as most unambiguous and widely used in the biomedical community.
NCIt Definition A text definition of the term created by an NCI EVS subject matter expert.
CareLex Preferred Term The term chosen by CareLex for use as its Preferred Term.
CareLex Synonym Additional term(s) chosen by CareLex that has an equivalent meaning to the Preferred Term.
CareLex Definition A text definition of the term created by CareLex.
NCIt URL The text link to the concept in the NCI Thesaurus.

CareLex terminology is bundled by a subset, identified by code and name in the first two columns of each row. There is one subset of the CareLex Terminology defined as: A controlled vocabulary developed to support content interoperability between electronic Trial Master File systems for clinical trials.

Also included on the NCI EVS ftp site (https://evs.nci.nih.gov/ftp1/CareLex/) are the following additional files:

About (This file)
Changes.txt (A text file of changes between the most recent and the current version of CareLex terminology. For each change record, the Changes.txt contains a complete row of tab delimited data with the same data elements as described above. An "A" will precede any new concept additions, a "C" will precede any modification to existing concepts, and a "D" will precede any concepts that have been deleted.)
Version.txt (A text file that contains the version of NCI Thesaurus that corresponds to the current spreadsheet data. The database is reconciled the last Monday of every month. The files will be posted during the following two weeks. The version appears as YR.MOweek. An example is 16.03d which corresponds to the year 2016, the month of March, and the "d" refers to the fourth Monday of the month.)
N.B.: If there are no changes to the data for a particular month, the files will not be reposted. An update via the LISTSERV will be sent with this information.
Contact Information and Updates: Additional terms may be suggested at the Term Suggestion page; please indicate CareLex as the project. An NCIEVS CareLex LISTSERV has been created for end users' questions and for update notifications. Please visit the following link to sign up for the LISTSERV and search for CareLex.

Archived files are available at:

https://evs.nci.nih.gov/ftp1/CareLex
Archive/ Directory of dated release versions.

Help requests on these files should go to NCIThesaurus@mail.nih.gov