Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair assessments have emerged as a robust means for identifying drug and alcohol consumption. Hair strands offer an extensive timeline of substance use by embedding biomarkers within the hair fibers as they grow. When taken near the scalp, hair can reveal drug and alcohol presence over a roughly 3-month span. The collection of hair is straightforward, challenging to tamper with, and convenient to transport.
A 1.5-inch batch involving about 200 hair strands (approximately the width of a #2 pencil) from the scalp provides 100mg of hair, which is the optimal volume for analysis and validation. For EtG examinations, add-ons, or tests exceeding 10 panels, a 150mg sample is advisable. We suggest measuring the sample using a jeweler's scale. If hair from the scalp is unavailable, a comparable quantity of body hair can be taken. When we mention head hair, we are specifically talking about scalp hair. Body hair pertains to other hair types (face, underarm, etc.).
Process Overview
The four primary phases in laboratory processing of a drug test result include Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning covers the initial handling of a sample within a laboratory's framework. This step entails checking the proper sealing and transport of the sample, assigning a LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number) randomly, and performing any additional data entry not available through an electronic chain of custody system.
Screening offers a preliminary rapid assessment for drugs. While Screening is affordable for excluding drug use in most samples, a positive result necessitates confirmation to be admissible in legal contexts. Any samples that are presumptively positive in Screening need further confirmation.
If a sample returns a presumptively positive result in the Screening phase, additional hair is drawn from the original sample and subjected to Extraction. In this phase, drugs are extracted from hair at much lower concentrations compared to other techniques (e.g., urine or saliva), which makes hair drug testing particularly challenging.
Confirmation of any positive screening result is executed using GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. All presumptive positive samples are cleansed prior to confirmation as required. The entire lab procedure from Accessioning to Confirmation is critically evaluated under both the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and the ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Although commonly called "hair follicle tests", the analysis evaluates the strand itself, not the follicle beneath the scalp.
Why Hair Follicle Testing Beats Urine Testing in Lindseyville, KY
Extended Detection Window in Lindseyville, KY
Tamper-Resistant Testing Method in Lindseyville, KY
Convenient Nationwide Testing Locations and Local Locations in Lindseyville, KY
Simple, Confidential Process in Lindseyville, KY
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