REVIEWS   

Minerva Medicolegale 2007 March;127(1):39-44

Copyright © 2007 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

The biological matrices in the determination of drug abuse

Zacà S. ¹, Pellegrino S. ², Petrarulo M. ²

¹ S.C.D.U. Medicina Legale Ospedale Gradenigo, Torino 2 Settore di Tossicologia, Laboratorio Analisi Ospedale Mauriziano, Torino

The routine consumption of drugs is investigated by analysing biological materials. The aim of achieving effective, unambiguous and homogeneous operative modalities in toxicological analyses has led to the need to rationalise and standardise procedures by drawing up national and/or regional guidelines. In this paper, the authors examine the characteristics of the biological matrices usable in the search for cocaine and heroin metabolites, consider the difficulties in interpreting the data obtainable and analyse the problems connected with the management of the biological sample.