One instrument injection can produce results for several drug classes. The scope of those results still depends on which compounds and concentration ranges the laboratory validated. Joye and colleagues developed a whole-blood procedure for compounds encountered in impaired-driving investigations.
The method used 100 microlitres of whole blood, liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry with parallel reaction monitoring. The researchers included 22 analytes and 15 internal standards. Their validation examined features such as selectivity, precision, matrix effects, and stability. Calibration ranges were specific to each analyte.
Check the analyte list and the applicable reporting limit before describing a drug as absent. A compound outside the validated panel was outside the scope of the reported result. A concentration for an included compound also answers an analytical question. To assess driving, separately establish collection time, relevant observations and the interval between the alleged event and the specimen.