Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair testing is recognized as an effective method for detecting drug and alcohol consumption. It provides an extensive historical record of substance use by capturing biomarkers in the hair strands as they grow. When obtained near the scalp, hair can offer roughly a 3-month window for detecting drugs and alcohol. The process of collection is straightforward, hard to tamper with, and the samples are easily transportable.
A sample measuring 1.5 inches, which consists of around 200 hair strands (approximately the thickness of a #2 pencil), yields 100mg of hair and is the ideal quantity for preliminary testing and confirmatory analysis. For EtG, supplementary tests, or assessments exceeding 10 panels, 150mg of hair is advised. It is suggested to weigh the sample on a jeweler’s scale. In the absence of scalp hair, a proportional amount of body hair can be used. When we mention head hair, it specifically pertains to scalp hair. Body hair includes all other types such as facial or axillary hair.
Process Overview
The laboratory processing of a drug test result involves four key stages: Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning is the initial step where a sample is entered into the laboratory’s system. This step confirms the proper sealing and shipping of the sample, assigns it a unique LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and handles any additional data entry that an electronic chain of custody system might not cover.
Screening provides a preliminary assessment for the presence of drugs. Although this is an economical approach to negate drug usage in most samples, any positive outcome in Screening requires confirmation to be valid in legal contexts. Samples that show a preliminary positive in Screening must undergo further Confirmation.
Should a sample return a presumptive positive during Screening, more hair is extracted from the initial sample and readied for Extraction. Drugs are extracted from hair at significantly lower concentrations compared to other methods such as urine or oral fluid testing, making hair drug testing a complex procedure.
Confirmation of positive screening results is performed using GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS technologies. Presumptive positive samples are prepped with washing prior to confirmation as necessary. The complete process from Accessioning to Confirmation is assessed in accordance with both the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation as well as the ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation standards.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Although commonly called "hair follicle tests", these assessments actually examine the hair shaft and not the follicle located under the scalp.
Why Hair Follicle Testing Beats Urine Testing in Robin, ID
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Tamper-Resistant Testing Method in Robin, ID
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