Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair testing is now recognized as a potent method for identifying drug and alcohol consumption. Hair gives a long-term overview of drugs and alcohol by embedding biomarkers in the hair's fibers as it grows. When collected next to the scalp, hair offers a detection timeline of up to 3 months for substances. It is easy to collect, difficult to tamper with, and straightforward to transport.
A 1.5-inch segment comprising roughly 200 hair strands (similar to the thickness of a #2 pencil) close to the scalp collects 100mg, which is the optimum amount for both screening and confirmation. For tests above 10 panels, EtG, and add-ons, a 150mg sample is necessary. We suggest weighing it using a jeweler’s scale. If scalp hair isn't available, an equivalent amount of body hair can be used. When referring to head hair, it means only scalp hair. Body hair covers all other types (such as facial, axillary, etc.).
Process Overview
There are four primary stages in the lab processing of a drug test result: Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning refers to the sample's initial processing in a lab system, ensuring the sample's proper sealing and shipping, assigning it a LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and completing any remaining data entry absent an electronic chain of custody.
Screening is a rapid preliminary check for drugs of abuse. Though Screening offers a cost-effective method to negate drug presence in most samples, a positive result must be confirmed for courtroom validity. Presumptive positive samples in Screening need secondary confirmation.
If a sample tests presumptively positive in Screening, additional hair is extracted from the initial sample and prepared for Extraction. This step involves extracting drugs at lower concentrations from hair than other methods (e.g., urine or oral fluid), which accounts for the complexity of hair drug testing.
Any positive screening result is confirmed via GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. Necessary presumptive positive samples are washed before confirmation. The entire lab sequence from Accessioning to Confirmation is audited under both the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair framework and ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Known as "hair follicle tests," the analysis actually targets the hair strand, not the follicle under the scalp.
Why Hair Follicle Testing Beats Urine Testing in Sheridan, KY
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