Keynote: TANDEM MASS SPECTROMETRY IN THE CLINICAL LABORATORY: CAN STANDARDIZATION IMPROVE OPERATION

摘要

Today's clinical laboratory is focused on the delivery of accurate results at the right time to the right user.To reach this goal, all components of the laboratory, from the technologists on the bench to the analyst handling the LIS (laboratory information system) need to work in an integrated and coordinate way. The large number of methodologies used in the clinical laboratory can make the integration challenging and standardization processes are becoming the answer to the challenges brought by this diversity. Among the methodologies, mass spectrometry, whether single stage or tandem, often coupled with liquid or gas chromatography, is becoming one of the most widespread technique in the clinical laboratory, because of its sensitivity, specificity, rapid turnaround time, and low sample volume requirement. Mass spectrometry is therefore used in many areas, from newborn screening to therapeutic drug monitoring, endocrinology, infectious diseases, in addition to being used as a research tool in metabolomics applications.