There seems to be only two methods for serum albumin in LOINC: none or electrophoresis. Our lab uses the bromocresol green (BCG) and bromocresol purple (BCP) dye binding methods. I didn’t think these were considered electrophoresis. The reported results for each test is different enough I would like to be able to use a different LOINC code for each one rather than “none”. I am new to LOINC mapping and would appreciate any help.
Thanks,
Alice
Dear Alice,
You are absolutely right that the BCG and BCP methods are not electrophoresis but dye binding methods to determine albumin. I think the use of LOINC codes including a method should only be choosen only when the assays lead to clinically different results. In that case the assay must have different reference ranges. If you (unnecessarily) select LOINC codes with a specified method field, the receiver of the results has to incorporate the result in his ICT application as a different test. Although de BCG and BCP assay do have slightly different characteristics with resepect to certain proteins/body fluids, they generally are both used to determine albumin in serum or plasma using the same reference ranges. My advise would be to use the ‘albumin LOINC’ for Ser/Plas with none for the method.