Patent ID: 8315811

Claim:
A method for quantifying the extent of human-introduced variability in medical test data relative to one or more standards for comparable medical tests, the method comprising the following steps: providing user medical test data stored in a computer-readable storage medium; comparing the user medical test data against one or more standards for comparable medical tests and determining the extent of deviation of the user medical test data from the one or more standards; and generating a variability-value corresponding to the maximum absolute percentage deviation of the user medical test data from the one or more standards over a predefined operating range of values for the one or more standards; wherein the user medical test data comprise fetal nuchal translucency measurements; wherein the user fetal nuchal translucency measurements are expressed as a multiple of a gestation-specific median value; wherein the step of comparing the user fetal nuchal translucency measurements against the one or more standards comprises comparing the distribution of the user fetal nuchal translucency measurements against fetal nuchal translucency measurements, expressed as multiples of a gestation-specific median value, representing average fetal nuchal translucency measurements for a statistically significant population, and determining the percentage deviation therefrom represented by the user fetal nuchal translucency measurements; and wherein the step of generating a variability-value comprises determining the likelihood ratio over a predefined operating range for the average fetal nuchal translucency measurements, determining the likelihood ratio, over the predefined operating range, for the user fetal nuchal translucency measurements, and identifying the maximum deviation, expressed as an absolute value, of the likelihood ratio for the user fetal nuchal translucency measurements from the likelihood ratio for the average fetal nuchal translucency measurements.