cut-off
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cut-off
Anesthesiology The point at which elongation of the carbon chain of the 1-alkanol family of anesthetics results in a precipitous drop in the anesthetic potential of these agents–eg, at > 12 carbons in length, there is little anesthetic activity, beyond 14 carbons, none Lab medicine1. A time after which a specimen cannot be processed due to logistics or necessity for 'batching' specimens to ↓ labor in performing certain assays and.
2. A critical value for an analyte which is ≥ 2 standard deviations above or below a mean or 'cut-off' and thus abnormal. See Decision level, Panic value.
McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.