Gas chromatographic screening for drugs and metabolites in plasma and urine.

There is an increasing need for sensitive and specific methods for toxicological screening. Development of a dual-column gas chromatography system for the screening of drugs and metabolites in the plasma of poisoned patients is described. The system has been evaluated using plasma from a well-documented series of patients presenting with overdose, and results obtained have been compared with results of specific assays for the groups of drugs encountered. The method has been found to be of value in the treatment of poisoned patients despite its apparent insensitivity to certain more polar drug metabolites such as nortriptyline and desmethyldiazepam.