Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MSMS) Analysis of neuropsychiatric drugs: Challenges from the perspective of the laboratory physician

Introduction Due to a broad spectrum of neuropsychiatric drugs available and the numerous indications for a therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) guided therapy, the proportion of quantitative analyses of these drugs within TDM services is large as well as steadily increasing. Whereas there are a few drugs for which automated analyses on general clinical chemistry platforms are available, the carrying force for the analytics are chromatographic procedures, particularly those based on the LC-MS/MS technique. Although LC-MS/MS has faced enormous technical development in the last decades providing important advantages for the implementation of routine TDM services, analysis by LC-MS/MS does not automatically mean the results are more reliable and that the methods are superior to other assays.

Methods Based on the literature published and on personal expertise of the speaker the presentation will point out challenges concerning the single phases of the analytical procedure life cycle (e.g. method design; method validation/performance verification; method life cycle management) and their impact on laboratory results.

Results The content of the presentation is intended to support proper interpretation of laboratory results under consideration of their analytical quality and to highlight measures needed to improve method consistency within- and between laboratories.

Conclusions To exploit the diverse advantages of LC-MS/MS, efforts to cope with its challenges and to align analytical performance with clinical requirements are essential.

Publication History

Article published online:
16 May 2022