Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair analysis has become recognized as an effective instrument for identifying drug and alcohol consumption. Hair retains a prolonged history of substance use by embedding biomarkers within the strands' fibers. When sampled near the scalp, hair can offer a detection span of up to roughly three months for drugs and alcohol. Hair collection is straightforward, hard to tamper with, and easily transported.
An ideal specimen for testing and validation comprises a 1.5-inch segment of about 200 hair strands (about the width of a #2 pencil) located nearest to the scalp, yielding 100mg of hair. For tests exceeding 10 panels, EtG additions, or extensive tests, 150mg of hair is advised. It's best to measure the specimen with a jeweler’s scale. In the absence of scalp hair, an equivalent portion of body hair may be used. References to head hair specifically mean scalp hair. Conversely, body hair encompasses all other hair types (facial, axillary, etc.).
Process Overview
The primary procedures in processing a drug test result in a lab involve Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning entails the initial incorporation of a sample into a lab’s system. This process ensures the sample’s proper sealing and shipping, assigns a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and completes additional data inputs absent from an electronic chain of custody.
Screening provides a preliminary rapid assessment for drug presence. While it's a cost-efficient method to dismiss drug usage in most samples, a positive screen necessitates confirmation for court acceptance. Any specimen showing a presumptive positive in Screening requires further confirmation.
If Screening shows a presumptive positive, additional hair from the initial sample is prepared for Extraction. This process extracts drugs from hair at much lower levels compared to other methods like urine or oral fluid, rendering hair drug screening a challenging methodology.
Positive screening results undergo Confirmation using GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. All presumptive positive samples are cleansed before confirmation if necessary. The lab process, from Accessioning to Confirmation, is evaluated under the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Commonly termed "hair follicle tests", the analysis actually examines the hair strand instead of the follicle under the scalp.
Why Hair Follicle Testing Beats Urine Testing in Nice, CA
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