Insufficient sensitivity of laser desorption-time of flight mass spectrometry-based detection of hemozoin for malaria screening

Laser desorption-time of flight (LD-TOF) mass spectrometry-based detection of hemozoin was assessed for its performance characteristics as a rapid screening test for malaria. In spite of good specificity of >95%, poor sensitivity of 80.2% for microscopically positive samples makes the easy-to-apply and rapid approach unsuitable for the routine diagnostic setting.