How effective is the use of DBS and DPS as tools to encourage widespread therapeutic drug monitoring?
“DBS and DPS sampling have several advantages that make them useful for therapeutic drug monitoring in the clinical practice: sample low volumes; no need for sample storage at low temperatures; safer collection of samples; and cheaper and simpler way to send samples.” Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is a branch of clinical pharmacology that consists of the measurement of drug concentrations in biological matrices, especially in blood and plasma, in order to eventually modify the patient dosage. The aim of TDM is to maximize the probability of a successful outcome and to minimize the probability of side effects. It is indicated...