Greater or less than?

[RockinZ28]

Lol, I can't remember this crap. I'm not trying to make this funny, these are for very serious medical tests that my GF had done last week. They just told her the results were abnormal and to make sure she doesn't miss her next appointment.

But anyway, to my question. I looked up the results online for one of the tests, all it says is " <5 ". Does that mean less than or greater than 5? Greater than 5 is bad from what I'm reading about the test, possible cancer indication .

 

[DrPizza]

It means less than 5

 

[Paperdoc]

"<" is "less than". Often when that method is used for the result, what it really means is "less than the minimum our test can detect, but we don't really know how low". Another way to write that I've seem is "LDL", short for "less than detection limit". This is just being precise. Technically, the test cannot tell you the amount is actually zero. It can fail to detect some, but that only means the amount present is so small the test is not good enough to pick that up. Now, nobody uses a test that fails to detect clearly an amount that really matters. So if the mount is that small, it also means that this test result says not to worry about it, and if you prefer to think of this as "zero - there was none", that's OK. Unless, of course, you're supposed to have some of this and none was found!

 

[Rubycon]

It always points to the lower value.

 

[armstrda]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
It always points to the lower value.

Or the aligator mouth is always eating the bigger value

 

[Colt45]

Christ is this ever highly technical.

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: armstrda

Originally posted by: Rubycon
It always points to the lower value.

Or the aligator mouth is always eating the bigger value

almost everyone in my class drew teeth on the symbol. Well, all the guys.

 

[RockinZ28]

OK thanks for the replies. Just threw me off cause there was only one number. Guess you have to assume there is a variable in front, like x<5? So x is less than 5. In this case the hormone they were testing for is less than 5 mIU/ml. So that is normal.
Guess they found something abnormal in the ultrasound, that result wasn't listed online, and they won't disclose any more information over the phone. Her next appointment isn't until the 31st and they can't see her sooner.

 

[funkymatt]

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: armstrda

Originally posted by: Rubycon
It always points to the lower value.

Or the aligator mouth is always eating the bigger value

almost everyone in my class drew teeth on the symbol. Well, all the guys.

pfft, the pacman was where it was at