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AlphaBioLabs Drug and Alcohol Test
Question: PEth, CDT and LFT are different testing methodologies right? For what occasion does each test need to be ordered? Can they be ordered separately or in conjunction with each other?
Answer:
We would always recommend PEth testing as the first option for blood alcohol testing as is a direct biomarker of alcohol so this is a very reliable test; the metabolites are only generated when you drink alcohol and cannot be made by any other factors. A PEth test is always suggested if only one test option is being chosen. We report PEth testing via the following outcomes - abstinence/low consumption, social/moderate consumption, chronic/excessive consumption so this is a good test to establish alcohol consumption within a 4 week detection window.CDT testing is less specific than PEth testing as it is an indirect biomarker of alcohol. Our CDT results are reported either as normal, borderline or elevated and is a useful test to establish whether alcohol consumption has been chronic and excessive within the last 4 weeks. It is important to note that CDT levels can be elevated due to other causes; a CDT test is less specific than PEth testing so we would always advise a hair or nail alcohol test as well as a CDT test.LFT levels can be elevated if drinking excessively but can also be affected by other factors such as medications or health conditions. LFT tests are reported as normal or abnormal levels and we look for an indirect marker of alcohol - but this is not specific to alcohol. Again, we would advise this test in conjunction with a hair or nail alcohol test. An LFT test is useful to bridge the gap between historical alcohol use and recent alcohol usage.To summarise, we would recommend PEth testing as the first choice for blood alcohol testing. There would be no need to combine the testing of PEth/CDT/LFT but as above, we would recommend a hair/nail alcohol test alongside the CDT or LFT whereas the PEth is reliable enough to be a standalone test.
Question: Can you clarify further when a client should order the hair test and the nail test? Is the nail test only the best option when confirmation over 6 months is required?
Answer:
Hair or nail testing for alcohol is useful when you need to look back over a longer period of time. Whereas the blood tests only cover up to 4 weeks (apart from LFT which has no time-frame it is simply a “there and then” result), hair alcohol testing can be provided for either a 3 or 6 month overview – body hair alcohol testing provides and overview of up to 12 months. Fingernails offer a 6 month overview and toenails offer a 12 month overview – please note that it takes up to 2 weeks for the alcohol to appear in head hair and it can take a few weeks for alcohol to appear in the nail plate where we take the sample.We would always recommend head hair alcohol testing first, however nails are a suitable alternative if head hair is not available. There is also the option of body hair alcohol testing however this only provides an overview of up to 12 months – body hair testing goes off weight rather than length of the hair and we can test either chest, leg or arm hair (not underarm hair).