[International standardization of laboratory information systems].

The standardization of clinical laboratory information systems is one of the most difficult but important subjects for clinical laboratory community and laboratorians. International Standard Organization (ISO) has the projects in this field (JTC1/SC7) which is the part of approach to the international laboratory standardization (ISO/TC 212). US NCCLS and European CEN/TC 251 are working under ISO/TC 212. In the United States, the National Academy for Clinical Biochemistry (NACB) and the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) had started recently to organize the international collaboration program on the subject. The Japan Society of Clinical Pathology (JSCP)'s Council of Laboratory Informatics had joined this program in 1995. NACB/AACC's Ad Hoc Committee which was organized in 1996 is now trying to collect the general opinions ("what and how") through their internet home page. The current status of the works on the standardization of clinical laboratory information systems in the U.S., Europe, and Japan is reviewed briefly in this article. HL7 electronic data exchange specification and clinical testing coding systems such as LOINC coding project and JSCP's coding project are also reviewed.