2025 · European journal of pharmaceutical sciences : official journal of the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences · paywalled
The comparison of two volumetric microsampling devices (qDBS and VAMS) for determining ganciclovir levels in capillary blood using the LC-MS/MS technique in pediatric renal transplant recipients
Kocur et al.
The finding, in our words
The study compared quantitative dried blood spot (qDBS) and volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS) devices for measuring ganciclovir levels in capillary blood from pediatric renal transplant recipients. This comparison provides evidence for choosing between microsampling devices in therapeutic drug monitoring, supporting decentralised sampling approaches that reduce patient burden while maintaining analytical accuracy.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
The study developed and validated a rapid LC-MS/MS method for quantifying cefazolin in capillary whole blood collected via VAMS, plasma, and plasma ultrafiltrate, showing robust performance across matrices and successful application in a pediatric pilot cohort for therapeutic drug monitoring.
The honest counterpoint in children: VAMS predicted plasma vancomycin only modestly, venous/arterial VAMS was more accurate than capillary, and 29% of capillary samples were unusable for collection issues: collection technique and training matter as much as the assay.
The validated LC-MS/MS method showed similar pharmacokinetic profiles for albendazole and its metabolites across plasma, whole blood, dried blood spots and Mitra microsamples from hookworm-infected adolescents, supporting microsampling for paediatric pharmacokinetic studies. Mitra extraction proved more robust than dried blood spots during validation and is recommended for future albendazole pharmacokinetic work, despite higher albendazole sulfone concentrations observed in both microsampling devices compared with wet matrices.
This review found that volumetric microsampling devices, such as Mitra, HemaPEN, HemaXis DB10, and Tasso-M20, overcome haematocrit bias, whilst Telimmune plasma separation cards enable direct plasma collection without centrifugation. These technologies support patient-centric, decentralised sampling, though the authors note that clinical validation remains limited across different drugs and patient populations.
This method validation for 15 cardiovascular drugs found that VAMS and Capitainer-B provided interchangeable patient results, although Capitainer-B showed higher matrix effects while VAMS exhibited stability losses for specific analytes after two weeks. The work confirms the suitability of these microsampling workflows for decentralised adherence monitoring but highlights the need for analyte-specific stability testing.