The aim of this study was to develop a simple method for quantifying plasma levels
of sildenafil and its metabolite by liquid chromatography with a C18 reverse-phase
column and UV detection. For both compounds, linearity was assessed in the range from
10 and 1 000 ng · ml−1 and had correlation coefficients of r=0.995 and r=0.997 for sildenafil and its metabolite,
respectively. The inter- and intra-day coefficients of variation was<5.3%. The limits
of detection and quantification were 1 and 10 ng · ml−1. Drug levels were determined satisfactorily in two patients. A simple and reliable
method was developed for use in children with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension under
treatment with sildenafil.
Key words
children - liquid chromatography - sildenafil - pharmacokinetics - plasma levels