Ethyl glucuronide (ETG) is a metabolite of ethyl alcohol which is formed in the body by glucuronidation following exposure to ethanol, usually from drinking alcoholic beverages. It is used as a biomarker to test for ethanol use and to monitor to document alcohol abstinence in situations where drinking is prohibited, such as by the military, in professional monitoring programs (health professionals, attorneys, airline pilots in recovery from addictions), in schools, liver transplant clinics, or in recovering alcoholic patients. In addition to its use to monitor abstinence and detect drinking ETG also has potential for monitoring amount of alcohol use over time because it can be detected in hair and nails, though the effectiveness of this has not yet been proven.
How long can EtG/EtS be detected in urine? Traditional laboratory methods detect the actual ethanol in the body, which reflects current use within the past few hours (depending on how much is ingested). The presence of EtG/EtS in urine indicates that ethanol was ingested within the previous 3 to 4 days, or approximately 80 hours after ethanol has been ingested. Therefore, EtG/EtS is a more accurate indicator of the recent ingestion of ethanol than measuring for the presence of ethanol itself. How accurate and reliable is the EtG/EtS test? EtG/EtS are direct metabolites of alcohol (ethanol), and their detection in urine is highly specific, similar to testing for other drugs. Add to this, RTL utilizes the most sophisticated, sensitive, and specific equipment and technology available. After first screening for presumptive positives, we quantitatively confirm EtG/EtS by LC/MS/ MS (liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry). This combination of separate screening and confirmation methods provides highly accurate alcohol biomarker test results. As is the case with any laboratory test, it is also very important to obtain clinical correlation.
