Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair testing has become recognized as an effective method for identifying drug and alcohol consumption. By locking in biomarkers within the hair's growing fibers, the hair offers a comprehensive history of substance use. When cut close to the scalp, it reveals up to around a three-month detection period for substances. The process of collecting hair is straightforward, relatively hard to tamper with, and simple to transport.
A sample of hair measuring 1.5 inches, consisting of about 200 strands (roughly the thickness of a #2 pencil) located nearest the scalp, will yield 100mg of hair, ideal for testing and validation. For EtG, extra tests, or those exceeding 10 panels, 150mg of hair is advised. It is advisable to measure the hair's weight with a jeweler’s scale. If scalp hair cannot be obtained, a similar amount of body hair is an alternative. When mentioning head hair, we specifically mean scalp hair. Other hair types (such as facial, axillary, etc.) fall under body hair.
Procedure Summary
There are four primary stages in processing a drug test outcome: Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning pertains to the initial integration of a sample within the lab's system. This step involves confirming proper sealing and shipping of the sample, assigning it a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and completing any missing data provided externally to an electronic chain of custody system.
Screening offers a preliminary check for drugs of misuse. While it is cost-efficient for ruling out drug use in the majority of samples, a positive result during Screening requires validation to be legally admissible. Any samples indicating a presumptive positive during Screening must undergo secondary validation.
For samples indicating a presumptive positive during the Screening phase, additional hair is removed from the initial batch for the Extraction process. Here, substances are extracted from the hair at significantly lower concentrations than found in other testing methods (e.g., urine or oral fluid), which accounts for the complexity of hair drug screening.
Validation of any positive results obtained during Screening is carried out using GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. Prior to validation, all samples with presumptive positives are washed if needed. The comprehensive lab process, from Accessioning to Confirmation, undergoes scrutiny under both the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and adherence to ISO / IEC 17025 standards.
Pros of hair drug testing:
Drawbacks:
Note: Referred to as "hair follicle tests", the actual analysis is performed on the hair strand itself, not the scalp's follicle.
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