A pilot study of a novel portable mass spectrometer for rapid, simultaneous detection of multiple anesthetic drug concentrations

In the perioperative management of emergency animals, anesthetic drug–related toxicity and adverse effects pose substantial risks, and real-time quantification of anesthetic drug concentrations may provide an effective strategy for improving anesthetic safety. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of a novel Cell portable mass spectrometer (MS) for the rapid detection of multiple anesthetic drug concentrations. Etomidate (ET, 1.5 mg/kg), rocuronium bromide (ROC, 5 mg/kg), and lidocaine (LID, 2 mg/kg) were administered, and plasma samples from rats were analyzed using the Cell portable MS and compared with results obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS). The Cell portable MS enabled simultaneous quantitative analysis of all three anesthetic drugs within 4.5 min and demonstrated good linearity across detection ranges. The regression equations were y = 0.01496x + 0.3136 for ET ( R 2 = 0.997), y = 1,356.03x + 12,785.42 for ROC ( R 2 = 0.991), and y = 0.01459x + 0.0067 for LID ( R 2 = 0.999). Pearson correlation analysis revealed strong correlations between Cell portable MS and HPLC–MS measurements for all three drugs (ET: r = 0.9666; ROC: r = 0.9858; LID: r = 0.9937; all p < 0.0001). Bland–Altman analysis showed small mean biases, with most data points falling within the 95% limits of agreement and no proportional bias observed. Overall, the Cell portable MS demonstrated good quantitative agreement with conventional HPLC–MS for rapid, simultaneous measurement of multiple anesthetic drug concentrations, supporting its potential for real-time anesthetic drug toxicity monitoring and individualized dosing, particularly in emergency settings.