Use of a small particle solid‐core packing for improved efficiency and rapid measurement of sirolimus and everolimus by LC‐MS/MS

Measurement of whole blood sirolimus and everolimus is required in order to optimize patient treatment following solid organ transplant. Assay by LC‐MS/MS is increasingly preferred; however efficient use of the instrument and short turnaround times are crucial. Use of a 1.6 µm solid‐core packing HPLC column (Cortecs) gave significant increases in efficiency, sensitivity and throughput compared with an existing method, following simple protein precipitation of small‐volume (20 μL) whole blood samples. Sirolimus, everolimus and the stable isotopic internal standard (¹³C₂D₄ – everolimus) eluted at around 0.8 min, and total analytical run time was 2.2 min, saving almost 4 min per sample compared with an existing method. Within‐assay imprecision (CV) was 3.3–8.5%, and between‐assay imprecision was 2.2–10.8%. Retrospective assay of external quality assurance samples and comparison of patient samples assayed in parallel showed only small differences (between +6.8 and ?1.9%) in results using the Cortecs column when compared with the existing method. No significant interferences or ion suppression were observed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.