Evaluation of four drug screening devices for detection of psychoactive drugs in pericardial fluid

Abstract

We evaluated the applicability of four immunoassay-based drug screening devices, Triage^® TOX Drug Screen, SIGNIFY^TM ER, IVeX-screen M-1, and DRIVEN-FLOW M8-Z, in the detection of psychoactive drugs in pericardial fluid as an alternative to urine. A total of 38 pericardial fluid samples from forensic autopsies were analyzed with the four drug screening devices. To confirm the results, the concentrations of psychoactive drugs in pericardial fluid samples were measured together with those in urine and blood samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Only IVeX-screen M-1 precisely detected psychoactive drugs without false positive results, whereas Triage^® TOX Drug Screen and SIGNIFY^TM ER showed several false positive results, and DRIVEN-FLOW M8-Z led to many false positive results. These results suggest that IVeX-screen M-1 is more useful than other screening devices for psychoactive drugs in pericardial fluid and that pericardial fluid is a valid alternative material when urine is not available.