Therapeutic drug monitoring of flecainide using high-performance liquid chromatography and comparison with fluorescence polarisation immunoassay.
The therapeutic monitoring of flecainide, like the other antiarrhythmic agents, has become an integral part of the administration of this type of drug. A full description is given here of a high-performance liquid chromatographic method which has been developed and used over the past three years for the routine monitoring of flecainide. This method uses extraction into toluene using the non-fluorinated analogue of flecainide as an internal standard and then direct back-extraction into a small volume of aqueous acid without the need for solvent evaporation. A fluorescence detection instrument is chosen which avoids the use of high-cost fluorometers. Ample sensitivity is accomplished with a simple fluorometer by selecting a combination of Schott bandpass filters with high-transmittance characteristics at appropriate wavelengths. A comparison is made between this method and the newly introduced fluorescence polarisation immunoassay. The comparison shows a good agreement between the independent technologies.
Woollard
G A
GA
Department of Clinical Chemistry, Auckland Hospital, New Zealand.
D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005424:Flecainide / Q000097:blood*; D015200:Fluoroimmunoassay; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D012997:Solvents; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D012997:Solvents; D005424:Flecainide