Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair analysis has emerged as an effective method for detecting substances like drugs and alcohol. Hair offers an extended profile of alcohol and drugs by capturing biomarkers within the fibers of the growing strand. When taken close to the scalp, hair can provide a detection period of up to roughly three months for substances like alcohol and other drugs. Hair collection is straightforward, rather challenging to tamper with, and convenient to send.
A 1.5-inch piece comprising approximately 200 strands of hair (resembling the thickness of a #2 pencil) nearest to the scalp provides 100mg of hair, which is the optimum sample for testing and validation. For EtG, additional elements, and/or evaluations surpassing 10 panels, 150mg of the specimen is advisable. Measuring the specimen on a jeweler’s scale is suggested. If scalp hair is absent, a similar amount of body hair can be collected. 'Head hair' refers to scalp hair exclusively. 'Body hair' denotes all other types (facial, axillary, etc.).
Process Overview
Laboratory processing of a drug test result involves four main steps: Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning includes the preliminary handling of a sample into a lab’s system, ensuring the sample was sealed and transported correctly, assigning a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and completing any extra data input not provided by an electronic chain of custody system.
Screening is an initial rapid assessment for drugs of abuse. Although Screening is cost-efficient for ruling out drug use in the majority of samples, a positive result requires confirmation to be accepted in court. Any samples suspected to be positive during Screening need a secondary confirmation.
Should a sample appear positive in the Screening phase, additional hair is taken from the original specimen for Extraction preparation. In Extraction, drugs are isolated from hair at considerably lower concentrations than other methods (e.g., urine or oral fluid), explaining why hair drug screening is the most challenging method to execute.
The Confirmation of any positive screen is conducted utilizing GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. All samples suspected to be positive undergo washing before confirmation as necessary. The entire procedural journey from Accessioning to Confirmation undergoes scrutiny under both the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and ISO / IEC 17025 standards accreditation.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: While commonly called "hair follicle tests", the examination actually evaluates the hair strand as opposed to the follicle below the scalp
Why Hair Follicle Testing Beats Urine Testing in Eureka, FL
Extended Detection Window in Eureka, FL
Tamper-Resistant Testing Method in Eureka, FL
Convenient Nationwide Testing Locations and Local Locations in Eureka, FL
Simple, Confidential Process in Eureka, FL
Affordable Pricing and Fast Turnaround in Eureka, FL
Fast, Accurate, and Reliable Results in Eureka, FL
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