Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair analysis is now viewed as an effective means for uncovering substance and alcohol intake. Hair offers a prolonged timeline of alcohol and drug use by encapsulating biomarkers within the strands as they grow. When cut near the root, hair can reveal approximately a three-month detection period for alcohol as well as other substances. It is straightforward to gather, challenging to tamper with, and convenient to dispatch.
A sample measuring 1.5 inches with roughly 200 hair strands (comparable to a #2 pencil's thickness) nearest the scalp yields 100mg, which is the perfect amount for both initial screening and verification. For EtG, additional panels, or tests exceeding 10 panels, 150mg of the sample is advisable. Utilizing a jeweler’s scale is suggested for weighing the sample. In circumstances where scalp hair is not accessible, an equal portion of body hair can be used. References to head hair specify scalp hair, while body hair encompasses all other types (facial, axillary, etc.).
Process Overview
There are four primary stages in processing a drug test in a lab: Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning is the preliminary processing of a specimen within a lab’s system. Tasks here include confirming the sealed and correctly dispatched status of the sample, generating a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and inputting any supplementary data not provided by an electronic chain of custody system.
Screening performs an initial rapid check for drug misuse. While it's an economical way to eliminate a majority of potential drug use cases, a positive screen requires confirmation for court admissibility. Samples indicating a positive result in the Screening stage necessitate a secondary confirmation.
Should a sample show a presumptive positive result in the Screening phase, additional hair is extracted from the original sample and prepared for Extraction. This phase involves extracting drugs from hair at significantly lower concentrations compared to other techniques (such as urine or saliva), marking hair drug analysis as the most intricate method to execute.
Confirmation of any positive screen is achieved through GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS technology. All samples with a presumptive positive outcome are washed before confirmation if necessary. The complete laboratory sequence from Accessioning to Confirmation undergoes evaluation under the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair specification and adherence to ISO / IEC 17025 standards.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Commonly termed "hair follicle tests", this test examines the hair strand rather than the follicle beneath the scalp
Why Hair Follicle Testing Beats Urine Testing in Huntington, VT
Extended Detection Window in Huntington, VT
Tamper-Resistant Testing Method in Huntington, VT
Convenient Nationwide Testing Locations and Local Locations in Huntington, VT
Simple, Confidential Process in Huntington, VT
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Fast, Accurate, and Reliable Results in Huntington, VT
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