Principle (Blood)

Blood samples are quantitatively added to an aqueous solution into which an internal standard has been added in order to compensate for sampling fluctuations within the Gas Chromatograph (GC). Static head space methodology is employed in which an aliquot of equilibrated vapor is injected and analyzed by a Flame Ionization Detector (FID) in the Gas Chromatograph. An integrating computer provides data reduction and report generation.

Quality Control (Blood)

A 1-propanol (n-propanol) solution is used as the internal standard on all tests. This solution is prepared in the laboratory and must meet quality control requirements before it can be used.

Each run begins with the following elements:

• Blank prepared of distilled water with the internal standard.
• 0.04 g/100 mL standard purchased from the College of American Pathology (CAP). A fresh sample is used each run. If the lab results do not agree within 5% of the assayed values corrective action is performed.
• 0.080 g/100 mL CAP standard as above.
• 0.30 g/100 mL CAP standard as above.
• Whole Blood Control from Bio-Rad.
• A sample spiked with a 0.20 g/100 mL standard.

Each sample is run in duplicate with results agreeing within 5% of each other.

A 0.08 g/100 mL and a 0.30 g/100 mL standard is run after every 10 samples.

External Testing Programs (Blood)

CG Labs, Inc participates in two nationally recognized testing programs:

• The College of American Pathology AL1 Whole Blood Alcohol/Volatiles Survey
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Blood Alcohol Proficiency Testing Project.

The results from this laboratory have always been satisfactory (the highest ranking)