Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Seen as a potent method for identifying drug and alcohol consumption, hair testing offers a comprehensive history of substance use by trapping biomarkers within the hair strand's fibers as it grows. When cut close to the scalp, hair can deliver up to about a 3-month timeframe for detecting alcohol and other substances. Collection is straightforward, challenging to tamper with, and convenient for transport.
A 1.5-inch segment comprising roughly 200 hair strands (akin to the diameter of a #2 pencil) nearest to the scalp yields 100mg of hair, which is optimal for screening and validating. For EtG, additional tests, and/or tests exceeding 10 panels, 150mg of hair is advisable. We suggest using a jeweler’s scale to weigh the hair. If scalp hair isn’t an option, an equivalent portion of body hair may be gathered. Head hair specifically refers to scalp hair only, while body hair includes all other kinds (facial, axillary, etc.).
Process Overview
Processing a drug test result in the lab involves four primary steps: Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning starts with processing a sample into a laboratory’s system, ensuring it was correctly sealed and shipped, assigning a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and finishing any extra data entry not available through an electronic chain of custody system.
Screening is a preliminary quick examination for drugs of abuse. Although Screening is a budget-efficient method to exclude drug use in most samples, a positive screen requires confirmation for legal admissibility. All samples that are presumed positive during Screening demand a subsequent confirmation.
In case a sample is presumed positive during the Screening phase, additional hair is extracted from the original sample and readied for Extraction. During this step, drugs are extracted from hair in significantly lower concentrations compared to other methodologies (e.g., urine or oral fluid), explaining why hair drug screening is among the most complex methodologies to conduct.
Confirming any positive screening outcome is carried out via GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. All presumptive positive samples undergo necessary washing before confirmation. Each step from Accessioning to Confirmation is audited following the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and accredited according to ISO / IEC 17025 standards.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Frequently called "hair follicle tests", these tests actually examine the hair strand instead of the hair follicle beneath the scalp.
Why Hair Follicle Testing Beats Urine Testing in Clyde Park, MT
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