Quantification of selected antidepressants and antipsychotics in clinical samples using chromatographic methods combined with mass spectrometry: A review (2006-2015).

BACKGROUND: Psychiatric disorders contribute significantly to worldwide morbidity and mortality. In the case of depression and schizophrenia, effective drug therapy is available but 30-50% of patients do not respond sufficiently to the initial treatment regimen. Apart from the development of new molecules, it is desirable to optimize treatment outcomes with agents that are currently available. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is a suitable and widely accepted approach for improving the efficacy and safety of these drugs.

METHODS: A review of the relevant literature published between 2006 and January 2015.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: This review describes major advances and drawbacks in the field of chromatography coupled with single or tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS, LC-MS/MS and GC/MS) of selected antidepressants (agomelatine, vilazodone) and antipsychotics (iloperidone, asenapine, amisulpride, aripiprazole, melperone, zotepine, ziprasidone). The high specificity in combination with high sensitivity makes these techniques an attractive complementary method to traditional procedures used in routine practice for TDM.