A Comment on the levels of antipsychotics and their metabolites in urine

A recent paper regarding development and validation of a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry mass spectrometry (LC/MSMS) method for the analysis of antipsychotics and their respective metabolites in urine was published in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology.7 This work by Kim, et al., was focused on assessing adherence of “mentally disordered probationers” to legally required antipsychotics. The authors note that the repercussions of “negative” test results could be severe and thus they have taken a very conservative approach to declaring negative results. This situation is the same as clinical patients who are prescribed antipsychotics and are monitored for their adherence to this paradigm by their physicians. Dosages for these drugs are set by medical practice as well as regulatory approvals. Again, the repercussions of negative test results can be serious. Any improvement in the effective sensitivity of the analytic method would benefit these patients.