Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair analysis has emerged as an influential method for identifying drug and alcohol consumption. Hair captures a prolonged record of alcohol and other substances by preserving biomarkers within the strands of hair as they grow. When sampled near the scalp, hair can offer a detection window of roughly three months for alcohol and other substances. It is easy to collect, challenging to tamper with, and simple to transport.
A sample measuring 1.5 inches, comprised of about 200 strands of hair (approximately the width of a #2 pencil) near the scalp, results in 100mg, the perfect quantity for both screening and verification. For EtG, additional tests, and/or panels exceeding 10, a specimen of 150mg is advised. It's suggested to weigh the specimen using a jeweler’s scale. If scalp hair is not accessible, an equivalent amount of body hair may be utilized. In context, head hair refers strictly to scalp hair. Body hair encompasses all other variations (like facial or axillary hair).
Process Overview
The key stages in the lab processing of a drug test outcome include Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning deals with the initial treatment of a specimen when entered into a lab’s system. This step ensures the sample was properly sealed and sent, assigns a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and completes any data entry not handled by an electronic chain of custody system.
Screening consists of a preliminary rapid check for illicit drugs. Although it’s a cost-effective measure to negate drug consumption for most samples, a positive screen must be corroborated to be valid in legal contexts. Samples that show a preliminary positive in Screening require subsequent confirmation.
Should a sample yield an initial positive during Screening, additional hair is extracted from the first specimen and prepared for Extraction. Here, drugs are extracted at much lower concentrations compared to other methods (e.g., urine or oral fluid), explaining why hair drug screening is considered a complex procedure.
Verification of any positive screening outcome is carried out using GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS processes. All presumptive positive samples undergo washing as necessary prior to confirmation. The comprehensive lab process, from Accessioning through Confirmation, is reviewed according to CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair standards and the ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation norms.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Though frequently termed as "hair follicle tests", the analysis targets the hair strand and not the follicle beneath the scalp.
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