2026 · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · paywalled
Minimizing blood sampling in preterm infants
Nissimov et al.
The finding, in our words
Cord or placental blood sampling may reduce severe intraventricular haemorrhage and retinopathy of prematurity requiring treatment compared with sampling solely from the infant, but the effect on all-cause mortality is very uncertain; strict protocols and blood-reinfusion devices are also evaluated.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
This study found that volumetric absorptive microsampling shows satisfactory agreement with venous plasma for monitoring several antiseizure medications in paediatric patients. However, a blood-to-plasma conversion factor was required to estimate plasma concentrations for clobazam and carbamazepine metabolites due to poor capillary-to-plasma interchangeability.
Simeoli et al., Pharmaceuticals (paywalled) · source ↗
A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was successfully validated for measuring androstenedione, 17α-hydroxyprogesterone, and 11-ketotestosterone in dried blood samples collected via volumetric absorptive microsampling. The dried samples remained stable at room temperature for up to a week and after postal transit, and plasma concentrations could be reliably estimated from the microsamples when adjusting for haematocrit.
This study employed volumetric absorptive microsampling to collect blood samples from neonates, revealing that existing propofol pharmacokinetic models poorly predicted drug levels in this population. A newly developed meta-model provided accurate predictions, validating the use of patient-centric microsampling for therapeutic drug monitoring in preterm and term infants.
Rantanen et al., European journal of pharmaceutical sciences : official journal of the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (paywalled) · source ↗
This study validated a method for monitoring mycophenolic acid in paediatric patients, demonstrating that quantitative dried plasma spots achieved close agreement with venous plasma. Quantitative dried blood spots showed significant haematocrit-related bias, making the plasma-based format more suitable for decentralised monitoring.
Kocur et al., Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences (paywalled) · source ↗
This review establishes that microsampling across blood, saliva, urine and stool matrices offers validated workflows and regulatory recognition for human biomonitoring comparable to conventional methods. It finds that these decentralised approaches enhance participant acceptability and enable screening in remote or low-resource settings.