Determination of amphetamine and methamphetamine in umbilical cord using liquid chromatography-tandem mass

Joseph Jones1, Rosemarie Rios, Mary Jones

  • 1United States Drug Testing Laboratories, Des Plaines, IL 60018, United States. joe.jones@usdtl.com

The use of meconium as a drug-screening matrix for newborns has been the gold standard of care for the past two decades. A recent study using matched pairs of meconium and umbilical cord demonstrated a high degree of agreement. The use of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry as a means to confirm amphetamines presumptive positive umbilical cord specimens for amphetamine and methamphetamine is described here for the first time. The limit of detection for both compounds was 0.2 ng/g. The limit of quantitation for both compounds was 0.6 ng/g. The assay was linear for both compounds up to 100 ng/g.