LOINC Coding tips

Compone
nt
(analyte)

Method System
Axes
of
Loinc code
Timing Scale

Property

63382-6 Fasting glucose [Mass/volume] in Urine

 System
Serum or plasma
Blood
Urine
Tissue
Stool
Tests with XXX specimens
XXX aren’t reported without a
narrative description.
……………… etc.

Final tip:

If the requested test doesn’t specify

system,
We will map it with serum/plasma code.
 Scale

Qualitative Nominal (Nom) Quantitative

Test results that don’t expressed Qt
by ordering. Test results that
Ex. Bacteria name, fluid color, expressed by numeric
….etc. values.
Ordinal (Ord)
Test results that expressed by
ordering.
Ex. Low, intermediate and high.
Present, absent

Ex. Influenza A virus (qual.)

50697-2 Influenza virus A Ag [Identifier] in Isolate
44562-7 Influenza virus A Ag [Presence] in Bronchial specimen
 Uncommon scales

OrdQn (Quantitative or Ordinal)

Test that can be reported as either Ord or Qn.
Ex. an antimicrobial susceptibility
Nar (Narrative)
Test that can be reported as long & free-text entries, it isn’t written with formal or standard terminologies.
Ex. Amylase isoenzymes

Final tips:
If we couldn’t get the specific analyte or the
subtypes of m.o,
We will use “presence” or “ordinal”.
If the requested test doesn’t specify either the test is
qual or quant,
We will consider it as quantitative analysis by default.
 Property
PrThr: presence or absence of an analyte.
Qualitative Prid: presence or absence of a particular kind of analyte.
Type: presence or absence of further analyte.

MCnc (Mass Concentration): g/dL, mg/dL, mg/L,…….

SCnc (Substance Concentration): meq/L, umol/L,……..
Titr (Titer): it is expressed as a ratio, ex.1:40.
Quantitative MCnt (Mass Content): mass of component per unit mass of a System.
SCnt (Substance Content): umol/g, nmol/g, nmol/mg………
Mrat (Mass Rate): mass of substance / time
…………and others.

Final tip:
If you couldn’t identify the property of test
result,
We will use MCnc by default.
 Quantitative subtypes:

RelMCnc: Ratio of mass concentrations coming from different systems (%).

Ex. Alpha 1 antitrypsin/normal in Serum or Plasma

Mrto: Ratio of the mass concentration of substance A / the mass concentration of creatinine in urine (mg/g).
Ex. Aldosterone/Creatinine in Urine

RelRto: Ratio of the mass concentration of same type of specimen from different Systems (%).
Ex. Protein in pleural fluid/Protein in serum
 Timing

 Pt Point in time = “spot” or “random”.

 Stdy Duration of the study
 Enctr Duration of an encounter (hospital stay, visit).

Final tip:

If the requested procedure mentioned

specific time, we will use Mrat code.

Ex. Cortisol in 24hrs Urine 14158-0

 Method
 If the required test doesn’t specify specific method, we will not assign the code of this method.
Pay attention to the method used in the test.
Ex. Enterovirus by PCR
62464-3 Enterovirus RNA [#/volume] (viral load) in Serum or Plasma by NAA with probe detection
 Differentiate between direct & amplified probe technique.
 Direct: Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH), In Situ Hybridization (ISH), and Southern Blot.
 Amplified: PCR

Final tip:

Don’t assign PCR code unless it is

mentioned by its name.
 Order, Observation or Both

Order: Tests that don’t represent as single result as panels or Batteries.

Observation: Tests that represent a single result.
Both: Tests that represent a single result and it is part of panel.
 Other tips

We use the panel code only if the requested procedure include all the analytes mentioned in it.
 R/O/C: Required, Optional and Conditional
If we couldn’t find a single code for the test, we could use multiple codes.
Ex. ToRCH (IgG) (Toxo/Rub/CMV/HSV 1&2)
8039-0, 8014-3, 7852-7, 81621-5