“…To date, a wide range of assay techniques, including high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS), − HPLC with UV , and fluorescence detection, , gas chromatography (GC)/MS, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), polarization immunoassay, and radio-immunoassay, have been extensively applied in TDM. Among these methods, HPLC–MS/MS is preferable due to its high specificity, sensitivity, and precision in quantitative analysis of therapeutic drugs in DBS, whereas this method requires tedious and time-consuming sample extraction and chromatographic separation prior to MS analysis. ,, The recent appearance and development of ambient ionization technique , have greatly promoted the TDM in DBS with highly simplified procedures and acceptable sensitivity. , After interfacing this technique to MS/MS instruments, rapid identification and quantitative analysis of therapeutic drugs can be achieved in a few minutes or even less, and direct MS analysis offers a promising future for high-throughput analysis of therapeutic drugs.…”