RESUMO
The quantification of voriconazole concentration in lung epithelial lining fluid to facilitate the management of pulmonary fungal colonisation or aspergillosis is of increasing interest. An accurate and reproducible high-performance liquid chromatography method to quantify voriconazole in human bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid was developed and validated. BAL samples were concentrated by freeze-drying and reconstituted with water prior to deproteinisation. Separation was achieved with a C18 column employing fluorescence detection (excitation: 260nm, emission: 370nm). The calibration curves were linear from 2.5 to 500ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day precisions were within 7%. Accuracies ranged from 102% to 107%. The clinical applicability was established by successful measurement of voriconazole concentrations in lung transplant recipients. The assay provides an alternative approach for those with negligible access to liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry instrumentation.
