The tools for detecting false
positives, false negatives, and interference in interactions when testing and
monitoring therapeutic drug use . . .
For physicians monitoring a patient's progress, efficacy of
treatment is often linked to a patient's response to medication. Determining
whether a patient is taking the prescribed amount, the drug or dosage is
effective, or the prescribed medication is interacting with other drugs can be
determined through drug testing. Written as a guide for toxicologists, chemists,
and health professionals involved in patient care, Resolving Erroneous
Reports in Toxicology and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring provides an up-to-date
introduction to the tests and methodologies used in a toxicology lab as well as
the sources of testing error that can lead to false positives, false negatives,
and unreliable conclusions of drug abuse or under
use.
Covering a host of common therapeutic drugs as well as specific
types of interference in immunoassays used in drug testing, the book details a
number of possible testing scenarios and problems as well as
solutions:
- False positive results in immunoassays for drugs in abuse
testing
- Interferences in immunoassays used for monitoring anticonvulsants,
tricyclic antidepressants, and digoxin
- False positive alcohol tests using breath analyzers and automated
analyzers
- When a toxicology report is negative in a suspected overdose
patient: the world of designer drugs
- Effects of drug-herb interactions on therapeutic drug
monitoring
- Pharmacogenomics and the general principles of genetic
analysis
- Approaches for eliminating interference/discordant specimen in
therapeutic drug monitoring and drugs in abuse
testing
- What to do in case there is no readily available
method for testing
Complete with easy-to-read tables and flowcharts, this book helps
toxicologists, clinical chemists, clinical pathologists, and forensic
pathologists develop accurate, unbiased drug monitoring and toxicology reports.
Health care professionals involved in patient care, especially of critically ill
patients, will find this guide indispensable in making sure lab tests are
reliable enough to provide high-quality care. An indispensable handbook to the
entire suite of toxicology lab tests, as well as all the possible sources of
testing error, Resolving Erroneous Reports in Toxicology and Therapeutic Drug
Monitoring offers clear remedies for eliminating and preventing testing
error.