Mass Spectroscopy for Clinical Laboratory Analysis

Mass spectroscopy is a clinical laboratory analysis technique used in determining the basic composition and structure of a sample or molecule. The process involves bending a charged beam of vaporized material using an electric and/or magnetic field and then plotting a spectrum of how the sample's ions are deflected. Mass spectroscopy assays based on well-documented techniques such as time-of-flight, liquid chromatography/tandem, liquid chromatography, gas chromatography-quadrupole and others have gained wide acceptance in the clinical laboratory due to their accuracy, speed and sensitivity compared to traditional analytical drug detection techniques. This TriMark Publications report provides a detailed analysis of the mass spectroscopy drug testing market, including size, growth, technology platforms, clinical applications, new instrumentation, industry trends and the internal structure of the sector. The mass spectroscopy market remains the fastest-growing segment of the diagnostics analytical instruments market. Highly-attractive clinical growth areas covered in this study include: disease markers; molecular diagnostics; infectious disease; toxicology; inborn errors in metabolism; metabolomics; proteins and peptides; small molecule analytes (vitamins, steroids, thyroid, etc.); tobacco exposure; chemical warfare agents; tissue analysis by MALDI; clinical chemistry/toxicology; microbiology/virology; proteomic, metabolomic and tissue histology laboratories; high-end MS; and food testing. Also provided in this review is a thorough analysis of the companies known to be marketing, manufacturing or developing mass spectroscopy products in the U.S. and worldwide, as well as detailed tables, charts and figures with past and projected data analyzed by geographic region with a focus on the U.S., Europe and Japan, the world's three largest mass spectroscopy markets.