Optimizing medication adherence with home-monitoring - A feasibility study using capillary microsampling and mHealth in solid organ-transplanted adolescents
Kindem et al.
The finding, in our words
Home monitoring that combined weekly finger prick capillary microsampling of tacrolimus with a medication manager app was feasible in adolescent solid organ transplant recipients, with 90% of samples collected correctly and 70% reporting improved timing adherence, while tacrolimus variability did not change significantly from the year before to the year after the short intervention.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
A 2025 review maps 28 microsampling devices, from dried spots and volumetric absorptive tips to upper-arm liquid capillary collectors, and names what a laboratory must control before their results are used: the haematocrit effect in non-volumetric dried samples, interstitial fluid from finger milking, volume, haemolysis and transport stability. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic ask for the same two things, a device the patient can use safely and a sample fit for the test.
VAMS microsampling found no significant difference from venous blood for tacrolimus in paediatric patients; samples were stable for 14 days, with average difference between paired at-home samples of 0.12 ± 0.94 ng/mL.
Zhao et al., J. Mass Spectrometry and Advances in the Clinical Lab · source ↗
The study found that quantitative dried blood spot sampling provided high clinical agreement for tacrolimus and creatinine monitoring, with patients rating the self-collection devices as user-friendly. These results support the feasibility of decentralised therapeutic drug monitoring for immunosuppressants.
De Baets et al., Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine (paywalled) · source ↗
The authors observe that self-sampling devices for capillary blood are gaining traction as a patient-preferred alternative to venous collection, with one centre reporting a 15 percent reduction in laboratory test volumes when local collection was offered. They argue that successful integration into total laboratory automation requires addressing cost, transport regulations and sample volume adequacy while ensuring robust device design and seamless workflow compatibility.
Poland & Cobbaert, Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine (paywalled) · source ↗
This systematic review of 67 studies involving 34,739 kidney disease patients found dried blood microsampling was mainly used for immunosuppressant therapeutic drug monitoring and kidney function assessment. The approach offered cost savings, was preferred by patients for home self-collection, and provides a patient-centric opportunity to upscale longitudinal sampling and reduce participation bias in decentralised kidney disease research.
Lamond et al., Journal of clinical laboratory analysis · source ↗