Realizing the potential of LC-MS

Expand your toxicology offering

Unlock the potential of LC-MS in your lab.

What started as a technology used primarily in research laboratories has grown into a widely used solution found throughout many clinical laboratories. Over the past several decades, liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has evolved rapidly, and now has applications across endocrinology, pharmacology, toxicology, newborn screening, therapeutic drug monitoring, and many other areas of laboratory medicine.

LC-MS has grown particularly popular for toxicology confirmation testing due in large part to the many advantages it can deliver over alternative methods. While immunoassay screening has limitations, such as only detecting the presence of a drug class and not the individual drug, LC-MS can measure a wide range of parameters, providing labs valuable flexibility and versatility. Because LC-MS can be used alone for definitive toxicology screening or as a confirmatory method, it is a good option for toxicology testing and many other clinical applications.

By combining the separating power of liquid chromatography with the detection abilities of mass spectrometry, LC-MS provides a wealth of advantages:

High selectivity, sensitivity and specificity

LC-MS detects analytes by more than one physical property, making it an ideal first line testing methodology. Additionally, it tends to have higher sensitivity than immunoassays and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

Broad applicability and versatility

LC-MS provides sample coverage for a wide range of substances. It also gives labs the ability to develop tests for new medications or biomarkers before they are available on the market.

Efficiency

LC-MS can allow for fast separation times and reduced sample preparation. Multiplexing enables many analytes to be analyzed at a time for a single sample, and analysis of additional analytes can be done at no additional cost.

New automated LC-MS solutions available

LC-MS has become widespread thanks to the capabilities of modern LC-MS systems. New systems have demonstrated continuous improvements in speed, automation and simplicity. Some of the advances in technology include higher MS resolution, increased quantitative accuracy, and information science for appropriate data processingⁱ. There are also a greater number of published protocols and FDA-approved kits available today.

While more affordable systems have become available in recent years, LC-MS can still represent a fairly high upfront investment. However, LC-MS can be a cost-effective solution that delivers a solid return on investment. LC-MS reagents tend to be less expensive than other assaysⁱⁱ. Another value of LC-MS is that it can enable labs to grow business by bringing new revenue streams in-house and adding outreach programs. For example, insourcing LC-MS toxicology confirmation testing can deliver clinical value to help drive a big ROI, including faster result turnaround time and reductions in length of stay and readmission rates.

Laboratories can benefit by implementing ready-made LC-MS solutions. In fact, Cardinal Health has partnered with MedTest Dx to provide a new solution to expedite toxicology confirmation validations and go live. This unique solution includes LC-MS set up and training, method installation, procedure design, and ready-to-use calibrators and controls.

Interested in LC-MS for your lab? Learn more about the MedTest Dx solution available from Cardinal Health »

ⁱ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163725817303042
ⁱⁱhttps://www.msacl.org/presenter_slides/2018_US_deborah.french_82527_slides.pdf