2024 · Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry · paywalled
Dried blood spot analysis for the quantification of vancomycin and creatinine using liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry: Method development and validation
Bahmany et al.
The finding, in our words
The authors validated a dried blood spot method for simultaneous measurement of vancomycin and creatinine with a 5.2-minute run time, demonstrating linear ranges suitable for therapeutic drug monitoring. This supports home-based sampling to reduce the burden of clinic visits for patients requiring vancomycin monitoring.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
A systematic review found mixed economic evidence for microsampling in therapeutic drug monitoring; one study reported no cost reduction with DBS home-sampling, €688 versus €676, whilst another predicted savings up to 61%. The authors caution that more work is required to assess costs alongside clinical outcomes and optimise logistics for decentralised implementation.
A quantitative dried blood spot method using only 10 µL of blood successfully quantified six azole antimycotics and showed samples were stable under conditions simulating postal mailing. A formula to convert dried spot results to plasma values was derived, though the authors note this is an in vitro validation and clinical studies are required for translation to patient care.
The study found that dried blood spot sampling showed good agreement with plasma concentrations for vancomycin and creatinine, with most differences within 20%, and patients preferred the finger prick method over venepuncture, supporting its use for decentralised therapeutic drug monitoring.
The authors validated a UPLC-PDA assay for ceftazidime in 10 microlitre dried blood spots collected with the Capitainer device from neonatal patients, achieving accuracy of 90.1 to 104.8 per cent and precision within 11.7 per cent coefficient of variation across a quantification range of 0.5 to 200 micrograms per millilitre, and confirmed the method worked on clinical neonatal samples. This supports microsampling-based therapeutic drug monitoring of an antimicrobial in a vulnerable population where conventional venous blood draws are difficult.
A validated high-throughput LC-MS/MS assay for piperaquine from dried blood spots achieved 54-72% recovery with <9% relative standard deviation and a quantification limit of 3 ng/mL, enabling detection for 4-8 weeks post-dose. The method showed minimal haematocrit interference and is suitable for therapeutic drug monitoring of antimalarial treatment in resource-limited settings and pediatric populations.