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Research Article| Volume 1, ISSUE 1, P21-37, March 1981

Assessing the Clinical Utility of Laboratory Methods

  • M. Desmond Burke
    Correspondence
    Mount Sinai Hospital, 2215 Park Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404.
    Affiliations
    Associate Pathologist, Mount Sinai Hospital, Minneapolis

    Associate Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
    Search for articles by this author
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      A clinically useful test is one that, indirectly, leads to better management results. Decision analysis and benefit-risk models are discussed as means by which performance standards can be set to determine when to treat or not to treat a patient. The difficulties involved in such an assessment are probed.
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