Principles of RIA data management

The ultimate objective of an RIA is to correlate observed values of radioactivity with observed clinical manifestations that may indicate the existence of a particular disease or metabolic malfunction. To achieve this objective, a two-step process may be considered. First, it is necessary to measure the concentration of a particular chemical entity, the analyte, in the sample presented for analysis. In most cases the analyte is a drug, hormone, or vitamin, or another well-defined chemical substance of known structure and molecular weight. The principal responsibility for measuring the analyte concentration rests with the clinical chemist performing the assay. Second, it is necessary to interpret the assay results in the light of patient history and clinical observations. The principal responsibility for this step lies with the clinician. In this paper, only the first step, the RIA, is considered. Although RIAs in particular are discussed, many of the topics considered apply equally well to radioassays in which the specific binder is not an antibody and to immunoassays in which the tag is not a radioisotope