Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair testing is now regarded as an effective method for identifying drug and alcohol usage. Hair offers a prolonged record of alcohol and drug usage by capturing biomarkers within the fibers of the hair strand as it grows. When taken near the scalp, hair can reveal up to about a 3-month window for detecting alcohol and drugs. It is easy to gather, relatively hard to tamper with, and convenient to transport.
A 1.5-inch segment of roughly 200 hairs (approximately resembling the thickness of a #2 pencil) closest to the scalp provides 100mg of hair, which is considered the perfect sample for both screening and confirmation. For EtG, additional tests, and/or for test panels exceeding 10, 150mg of the sample is advised. It is suggested to weigh the hair on a jeweler's scale. Should scalp hair be unavailable, a similar quantity of body hair may be used. When mentioning head hair, we mean specifically scalp hair. Body hair includes all other types (such as facial, axillary, etc.).
Process Overview
The procedure in laboratory processing of drug test results involves four key steps: Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
In Accessioning, the sample is initially processed into the lab's system. This step checks that the sample was correctly sealed and delivered, allocates a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and completes any extra data entry not provided by an electronic chain of custody platform.
Screening serves as a preliminary check for abuse drugs. It is cost-effective for excluding drug use in most samples, however, a positive result from Screening necessitates confirmation to be valid in legal settings. Any samples showing presumptive positives at this stage must undergo secondary confirmation.
For samples showing presumptive positives in Screening, additional hair is taken from the original sample and readied for Extraction. Here, drugs are isolated from hair in significantly lower concentrations compared to other methods (e.g., urine or oral fluid), making hair drug screening a complex method to execute.
Confirmation of any positive screening results is executed via GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. Before confirmation, all presumptively positive samples undergo washing as necessary. The complete lab procedure from Accessioning to Confirmation is assessed under CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and the accreditation of ISO / IEC 17025 standards.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Although commonly termed as "hair follicle tests", the analysis is performed on the hair strand, not the follicle beneath the scalp.
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