Somatic mutations are associated with cancer progression and treatment using targeted therapies. Somatic mutations are not inherited and could be present at low concentrations in biopsy samples. Hence, there is a need for more sensitive assays to detect these changes in the presence of heterogeneous cell populations. The efficacy of such detection is determined by two factors; the ability to detect a minimum number of copies of the target mutation in the sample (Lower limit of detection), and the ratio of target mutation to that of wild-type in the sample (Tumor content). A new algorithm Detection Index (DI) is formulated to evaluate the efficacy of detection for a molecular testing method.