More than half of urine samples from addiction treatment patients tested using mass spectrometry-based techniques show some level of unexpected drug use, according to a study published in the January/February issue of the Journal of Opioid Management. These results, the authors say, demonstrate the high number of cases of ongoing drug use or relapse missed by immunoassay urine drug testing (UDT). Immunoassay testing (IA) had its roots in point-of-care testing for forensic applications but was adopted in addiction treatment practice due to its quick, cheap nature. The tests are also limited due to their targeting of specific drug classes (i.e., amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and opiates). So, confirmatory testing with mass spectrometry-based tests are often necessary to verify the accuracy of IA results. Clinicians are increasingly recognizing the need for comprehensive, yet specific UDT, which is driving testing towards mass spectrometry (MS). Researchers from Millennium Research Institute (San Diego) analyzed 4,299 samples from the company’s laboratory database (Q1 2013) sent in from addiction treatment and recovery practices that consistently report medication lists to the laboratory. Samples all underwent liquid chromatography tandem MS (LC-MS). The vast majority of LC-MS results (92.6 percent) were positive for one or more substances. Less than half […]