Studies in Premature Infants

Studies in premature infants have demonstrated a slower removal of BSP than in adults (01). Tests made during the first 24 hours show a slow, almost linear, disappearance of dye from plasma later the plasma disappearance curve shows two phases as found in adults. Age since birth... 

MS/MS analysis of DBS is one model of clinical analysis that has been utilized on millions of infants for 15 years. Each year since its first clinical use in the mid-1990s, there have been substantial improvements such as improved ionization, more sensitive instruments, and a reduction of the actual size of instruments. The profile has expanded to include T4, succinylacetone, and in a few labs, LSD metabolites and steroids. Many of these analyses can be used in other clinical applications and research such as nutrition studies in premature infants or postmortem screening on sudden unexplained deaths in infants or carnitine status in dialysis patients with end-stage renal disease. As additional clinical assays are developed and used, it might be wise for these labs to consider the models of MS/MS, NBS, and the DBS as a reference. 

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