Determination of hydroxyurea in serum or plasma using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

Hydroxyurea is an antineoplastic drug, which is also widely used in the treatment of sickle cell disease. Various methods including colorimetry, high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) are available for the assay of hydroxyurea. In the gas chromatography method described, the drug is extracted from serum, plasma, or urine using ethyl acetate and phosphate buffer (pH 6). The organic phase containing drug is separated and dried under a stream of nitrogen. After trimethylsilyl derivatization, samples are analyzed using GC-MS. Quantitation of the drug in a sample is achieved by comparing responses of the unknown sample to the responses of the calibrators using selected ion monitoring. Tropic acid is used as an internal standard.