The Use of Dried Blood Spot Samples in Screening Drugs of Abuse

Rizwana Quraishi, Raka Jain, Atul Ambekar

National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.

DOI: 10.4236/pp.2013.42022                

Abstract

The present article will provide an overview of use of dried blood sampling method for analysis of drug of abuse. Relatively short half life and instability in blood, calls for alternative sampling method for determination of drugs of abuse. Dried blood spot (DBS) method has many advantages over the conventional sampling methods. The available method for DBS sample collection, storage and transport are described here. The techniques involved in and the factors that may influence the accuracy and reproducibility of the DBS methods for determination of drugs of abuse are presented. The DBS sampling has the potential to be a useful technique to detect drugs of abuse. The use of DBS for any drug should be judged against the potential error involved with the method.

Keywords

Dried Blood Spots; Drugs of Abuse; Screening; Review

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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