Revue générale Pertinence de l'immunochimie pour les services d'urgence hospitalière Relevance of immunoanalysis for hospital emergency units

Whether licit or illicit drug use is suspected, nowadays, since the breakthrough in immunoassay testing, many possibilities are offered to the clinician for screening xenobiotics in different biological specimens, all complying with the emergency context. Taking into account the financial restraint occurring in all private or public hospitals, the benefit/cost ratio must be taken into consideration. This implies that the decision of the immunoassay tests to perform must rely on evidences like clinical symptoms, oral exam or biological results available. It implies also that performances and drawbacks of the immunoassay tests like sensibility, specificity and interferences have to be clearly known by the users. Stating the limitations of the immunoassay test is part of the quality of the result given by the biologist to the clinician. It is worth mentioning that in all cases supplemental samples (blood and urine if available) must be retained for further confirmations with more specific methods and/or for forensic purposes.