Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair testing has emerged as a key instrument for detecting alcohol and drug usage. The fibers within the growing hair strand capture biomarkers, offering a long-term indication of drug involvement. When hair is collected near the scalp, it provides a detection period of up to roughly three months for alcohol and drug substances. The collection of hair is straightforward, somewhat resistant to tampering, and convenient to transport.
A 1.5-inch segment consisting of approximately 200 hair strands (about the size of a #2 pencil) nearest to the scalp yields 100mg, which is the ideal amount for initial and confirmatory testing. For EtG, add-ons, and/or examinations beyond 10 panels, 150mg of sample is suggested. We advise using a jeweler’s scale for measuring the specimen. If scalp hair is not obtainable, an equivalent amount of body hair can be collected. References to head hair pertain solely to scalp hair, while body hair includes all other hair variants (facial, axillary, etc.).
Process Overview
There are four primary segments in a laboratory analysis for a drug test outcome: Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning refers to the sample's initial processing within a lab's database. This entails ensuring the sample is properly sealed and dispatched, assigning a unique LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and completing any supplementary data entry not included in an electronic chain of custody protocol.
Screening is an initial rapid test for drug abuse. While it offers a cost-saving method to dismiss drug usage in most cases, a confirmed result is necessary for legal validity. Those samples initially flagged as positive in Screening need to undergo secondary confirmation.
When a sample presents presumptively positive in the Screening stage, additional hair is extracted from the initial sample and set for Extraction. During this phase, drugs are pulled from hair at concentrations significantly lower than other methods (e.g., urine or oral fluid), accounting for the challenging nature of hair drug screening methodologies.
Confirmation of positive screening outcomes is achieved via GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. All samples identified as presumptive positive are washed before confirmation if needed. The entire lab process ranging from Accessioning to Confirmation is vetted under the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and accredited to ISO / IEC 17025 standards.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Although known as "hair follicle tests", the test evaluates the hair fiber and not the scalp-embedded hair follicle.
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