diff --git a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/dictionary/ConceptDecoratorService.java b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/dictionary/ConceptDecoratorService.java
index 9678f1d..a67bc8f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/dictionary/ConceptDecoratorService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/dbmi/avillach/dictionary/ConceptDecoratorService.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
 
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
 
 @Service
 public class ConceptDecoratorService {
@@ -36,8 +37,8 @@ public Concept populateParentConcepts(Concept concept) {
         }
 
         // In some environments, certain parent concepts have critical details that we need to add to the detailed response
-        List<String> conceptNodes = List.of(concept.conceptPath()
-            .split("\\\\")); // you have to double escape the slash. Once for strings, and once for regex
+        List<String> conceptNodes = Stream.of(concept.conceptPath()
+            .split("\\\\")).filter(String::isBlank).toList(); // you have to double escape the slash. Once for strings, and once for regex
 
         return switch (conceptNodes.size()) {
             case COMPLIANT, NON_COMPLIANT_TABLED -> populateTabledConcept(concept, conceptNodes);