Citation

Smith RN. Proc. Int. Counc. Alcohol Drugs Traffic Safety Conf. 1981; 1981: 469-477.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, The author(s) and the Council, Publisher International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The use of radioimmunoassay (ria) for the analysis of drugs in small blood samples is described. The method is particularly applicable to road traffic cases in which the blood-alcohol level is found to be low and the presence of drugs is suspected. Since the volume of blood available is normally about 1-2 ml, sensitive analytical methods are required to detect drugs, particularly if they are present at therapeutic levels. Ria is useful since a number of assays, each requiring only about 50 ul of blood, are available for commonly used or abused drugs. Negative cases are eliminated from further investigation and, when positive results are obtained, sufficient sample remains for the ria results to be confirmed or for additional analysis to be carried out by alternative methods. Ria techniques suitable for the analysis of small, haemolyzed blood samples are detailed and some of the results obtained over the past few years are discussed. (TRRL)