Biochemistry Section, Dept of Lab Medicine, PD Hinduja National Hospital & MRC, Veer Savarkar Marg, Mahim, Mumbai 400016
* Winner of Best Poster Award
We carried out a retrospective analysis of urinary drug screen data of our lab for the past ten years. Around 1605 samples (116 paediatric and 1489 adult) were screened by immunometric assays followed by TLC using TOXILAB kit. The study was conducted to determine the type of requisition, pattern of results, and efficiency of the lab in serving patient management.
Approximately 20% of the adult age group requests were for pre-employment screening. The remaining were for detecting drugs either for abuse, overdose, or deliberate poisoning. Negative screen was obtained in 63% of the cases. The remaining 37% (n=586) were positive either for one or more drugs. Benzodiazepines were detected in 400 samples, and on clinical correlation were found to be the most popular drug group for selfpoisoning due to its easy availability. Other drugs detected included anti epileptics like phenytoin, phenobarbitone, and carbamazepine in 123, TCAs in 54, opiates in 42, and acetaminophen (paracetamol) in 29 patients who were either on medication or had attempted overdose or poisoning. Amongst the drugs of abuse, THC was detected in 35, amphetamines in 5, and cocaine, phencyclidine and methadone in one each. A miscellaneous group of drugs comprising antacids, antimalarials, anaesthetics, etc., were reported in a few cases.
We started the service by receiving only 6 samples in the year 1995 and have reached over 300 in 2004 suggesting the efficacy of this particular test in clinical setting. However the need for the confirmatory techniques like GC/MS still remains.
