Direct determination of benzoylecgonine in serum by EMIT d.a.u. cocaine metabolite immunoassay.

An EMIT d.a.u. immunoassay for urine testing was applied on the Syva ETS Plus analyzer for the detection of the cocaine metabolite, benzoylecgonine (BE), in human serum. Serum was analyzed without prior extraction, concentration, or matrix modification. Calibrators and serum controls were prepared from EMIT d.a.u. calibrators that were reconstituted and diluted with EMIT Tox serum calibrator. The assay cutoff concentration for BE was 50 ng/mL. The within-run and between-run precisions of the assay were both less than 5%. Analysis of 162 patient serums yielded 43 BE positive results. All EMIT positive serum BE results were confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. All patients with positive BE serums also had BE positive urine samples. Serum bilirubin and triglycerides as high as 38 mg/dL and 319 mg/dL, respectively, did not interfere with the assay. Modification of the EMIT urine assay allowed for a simple, rapid, and reliable method for the detection of BE in serum.