Untargeted Mass Spectrometry Applications for Clinical Toxicology

The current overdose crisis in the United States is a polydrug epidemic. Old drug testing strategies no longer keep up with the rapidly changing drug supply and patterns of use. Untargeted mass spectrometry is the testing approach most likely to detect novel psychoactive substances, active cuts in the drug supply, and any polypharmacy that may be complicating patient presentations. High-resolution mass spectrometry platforms offer untargeted data acquisition and different modes of data analysis, depending on the clinical applications. While they are currently costly and require skilled/trained personnel, more resources are becoming available to increase their accessibility to more laboratories.