title: Hair: a complementary source of bioanalytical information in forensic toxicology.
abstract: Hair has been used for years in the assessment and documentation of human exposure to drugs, as it presents characteristics that make it extremely valuable for this purpose, namely the fact that sample collection is performed in a noninvasive manner, under close supervision, the possibility of collecting a specimen reflecting a similar timeline in the case of claims or suspicion of a leak in the chain of custody, and the increased window of detection for the drugs. For these reasons, testing for drugs in hair provides unique and useful information in several fields of toxicology, from which the most prominent is the possibility of studying individual drug use histories by means of segmental analysis. This paper will review the unique role of hair as a complementary sample in documenting human exposure to drugs in the fields of clinical and forensic toxicology and workplace drug testing.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal, Delegação do Sul, Rua Manuel Bento de Sousa, 3, 1150-219 Lisboa, Portugal. mbarroso@dlinml.mj.pt
authors.forename: Mário
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barroso
authors.forename: Eugenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gallardo
authors.forename: Duarte Nuno
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: López-Rivadulla
authors.forename: João António
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Queiroz
mesh_terms: D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D064907:Diagnostic Uses of Chemicals; D053593:Forensic Toxicology / Q000379:methods*; D006197:Hair / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D064907:Diagnostic Uses of Chemicals; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations