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. 2011 Feb;32(1):5–31.

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

Comparison of HPLC-UV (A) and LC-MS/MS (B) chromatograms of urinary free cortisol measurements of the same patient sample that contains potentially interfering substances (carbamazepine). (A) Several potentially interfering peaks are visible on HPLC-UV, with one of the carbamazepine metabolites co-eluting with cortisol and the cortisone peak being barely separated from the cortisol peak, despite a run time of 30 minutes. (B) No interferences are seen by LC-MS/MS with only 3 minutes run time and the cortisone peak shows baseline separation from the cortisol peak. Note the cortisol isotopic internal standard overlaying the cortisol peak. Reprinted from Taylor et al. (Clin Chem 2002;48:1511–9) with permission from Clinical Chemistry.