The role of tandem mass spectrometry in the diagnosis of inherited metabolic diseases

This paper reviews the clinical applications of tandem mass spectrometry in diagnosis and screening for inherited metabolic diseases. The broad-spectrum of diseases covered, specificity, ease of sample preparation, and high throughput provided by the MS/MS technology has led to the development of multi-disorder newborn screening programs in many countries for amino acid disorders, organic acidurias, and fatty acid oxidation defects. The application of MS/MS in selective screening has revolutionized the field and made a major impact on the detection of certain disease classes such as the fatty acid oxidation defects. New specific and rapid tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and high performance liquid chromatography–MS/MS methods are supplementing or replacing some of the classical gas chromatography– MS/MS methods for a multitude of metabolites and disorders. In the near future, we should expect the emergence of new promising methods for diagnosing not only individual nosologic forms, but also entire groups of inherited metabolic diseases.