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Why it matters

Organs are the fundamental building blocks connecting everything else in the health knowledge graph. Every disease affects an organ, every procedure operates on one, every symptom originates from one. Without organ entities, there's a missing layer between body systems and specific conditions. Adding organs makes the graph navigable in the most intuitive way — people think about their health in terms of organs: "what can go wrong with my liver" or "what does the thyroid do."

What to publish

  • Create Organ entities for every major human organ and anatomical structure

  • For each organ, publish:

    • Name and common aliases

    • Description — what it does in plain language

    • Body system it belongs to — link to body system Topic

    • Primary functions

    • Location in the body

    • Key anatomy (major parts or structures within the organ)

    • Common diseases that affect it — link to Disease entities

    • Common procedures performed on it — link to Procedure entities

    • Key biomarkers that measure its function — link to Lab Test entities

    • Whether it's paired (e.g. kidneys, lungs) or singular

    • Whether it can regenerate (e.g. liver) or not

    • Transplant relevance (commonly transplanted or not)

  • Create relations to:

    • Body system Topics

    • Diseases — link to Disease entities

    • Procedures — link to Procedure entities

    • Related organs that work closely together (e.g. liver and gallbladder, heart and lungs)

Scope

50–70 organs and major anatomical structures:

  • Cardiovascular (heart, blood vessels, aorta)

  • Respiratory (lungs, trachea, diaphragm, bronchi)

  • Digestive (stomach, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, small intestine, large intestine, esophagus, appendix)

  • Nervous (brain, spinal cord, cerebellum, hippocampus, hypothalamus)

  • Endocrine (thyroid, adrenal glands, pituitary gland, pineal gland, parathyroid)

  • Urinary (kidneys, bladder, ureters, urethra)

  • Reproductive (ovaries, uterus, testes, prostate)

  • Musculoskeletal (major bones, major muscle groups, major joints)

  • Lymphatic/Immune (spleen, thymus, lymph nodes, bone marrow, tonsils)

  • Sensory (eyes, ears, skin)

Potential sources

Gray's Anatomy, NIH MedlinePlus organ entries, Visible Body / BioDigital anatomy references, Mayo Clinic organ guides, Merck Manual, Khan Academy anatomy, Radiopaedia.