Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
The utilization of hair testing has gained recognition as an effective means for identifying drug and alcohol consumption. Hair offers a thorough history of alcohol and drugs by embedding biomarkers within the strands of growing hair. When taken from near the scalp, hair can yield around a 3-month period for alcohol and drug detection. The collection process is straightforward, making it challenging to tamper with and simple to transport.
A 1.5-inch segment of roughly 200 hair strands (equivalent to a #2 pencil) from the scalp will yield 100mg of hair, which is the optimal quantity for screening and validation. For EtG, supplementary tests, and/or panels exceeding 10, it is advised to use 150mg of the sample. Utilizing a jeweler’s scale for weighing the specimen is recommended. If scalp hair is not an option, a similar quantity of body hair can be gathered. When mentioning head hair, it specifically refers to scalp hair. Body hair includes all other hair types (facial, axillary, etc.).
Process Overview
The primary stages in the lab processing of drug test outcomes include Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning encompasses the initial integration of a sample into the lab's framework. This process involves confirming that the sample was appropriately sealed and dispatched, assigning a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and completing any additional information not available through an electronic chain of custody system.
Screening provides an initial swift assessment for drugs of abuse. Although it is a cost-efficient method to exclude drug use in most samples, a positive screen must be verified to be valid in legal proceedings. Any samples provisionally positive in Screening necessitate a secondary verification.
Should a sample be provisionally positive during Screening, additional hair is taken from the original sample for Extraction. In this phase, drugs are extracted from hair at significantly lower concentrations than other methods (e.g., urine or oral fluid), making hair drug screening one of the most complex methodologies to execute.
Confirmation of any screening result that returns positive is pursued through GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. All samples presumed positive undergo washing pre-confirmation as required. The full laboratory procedure from Accessioning through Confirmation is assessed in alignment with the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation standards.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: The test, commonly termed "hair follicle tests", examines the hair strand rather than the hair follicle underneath the scalp.
Why Hair Follicle Testing Beats Urine Testing in Mohrsville, PA
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