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Clinical Chemistry 43: 856-857, 1997;
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(Clinical Chemistry. 1997;43:856-857.)
© 1997 American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc.

Letters

The Smallest Concentration

Robert F. Moran
Emery N. Brown

Medical Affairs: Critical Care, Chiron Diagnostics, 220 Pelham St., Methuen, MA 01844\. {res} Dr. Brown responds:
Dept. of Anesthesia, Massachusetts General Hosp., 32 Fruit St., Boston, MA 02114


To the Editor:

Brown et al. (1) reported on the different analytical approaches used to characterize and quantify "the smallest analyte concentration an immunoassay can measure." While in agreement with the excellent science of the report, I take issue with certain aspects of some of the basic terminology and definitions used.

Given that a definition is a "statement of meaning" (2)(3), and a term is "a spoken or written representation of a concept" (2)(3), the title seems to put the cart before the definitive horse, in that the term being "defined" by the report is actually the "minimal detectable concentration (MDC)," by which the authors mean "the smallest analyte concentration an immunoassay can measure."

The concept embodied in the author's definition is synonymous with "quantitation limit" or "limit of quantitation (LOQ)"—terms already defined by . . . [Full Text of this Article]


To the Editor:


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Copyright © 1997 by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.