Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair analysis is increasingly recognized as an effective method for identifying drug and alcohol consumption. The growing hair shaft acts as a repository, capturing biomarkers which illustrate an extended timeline of substance use. Hair samples taken near the scalp can offer an approximate 3-month retrospective detection span for drugs and alcohol. Gathering hair is straightforward, moderately resistant to tampering, and conveniently transportable.
A proximal sample measuring 1.5 inches from around 200 hair strands equates to 100mg, which is optimal for testing and validation. For EtG, supplementary tests, or assessments exceeding 10 panels, a 150mg sample is advised. Utilization of a jeweler’s scale for measurement is suggested. If scalp hair is inaccessible, body hair of equivalent measure can be used. The term "head hair" pertains exclusively to scalp hair, while "body hair" encompasses other types, like facial and axillary hair.
Process Overview
The laboratory analysis of a drug test outcome involves four crucial phases: Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning refers to the initial integration of a sample within a laboratory's database. This step verifies the proper sealing and shipment of the sample, assigns a unique LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and completes any outstanding entries absent from an electronic chain of custody system.
Screening serves as a preliminary evaluation for substances of abuse. Though cost-effective, a positive outcome from Screening requires further verification to hold up in legal settings. Presumptive positive samples identified in Screening mandate a secondary validation.
Following a presumptive positive indication during Screening, additional hair is extracted from the original specimen for the Extraction phase. Here, drugs are removed from hair at lower concentrations than other methodologies (e.g., urine or oral fluid), rendering hair drug testing the most intricate to conduct.
Every positive Screening result undergoes Confirmation through techniques such as GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. All presumptive positive samples are cleansed as necessary before confirmation. The entire analysis from Accessioning through to Confirmation is carried out under both CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair certification and ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Commonly termed "hair follicle tests," the procedure actually examines the hair strand, not the follicle beneath the scalp.
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