A Practical Approach to Determination of Laboratory GC-MS Limits of Detection

[Abstract [ Determination of limit of detection (LOD) values in a forensic laboratory serves a fundamental forensic requirement for assay performance. In addition to demonstrating assay capability, IOD values can also be used to fulfill certification requirements of a high-volume forensic drug laboratory. The LOD was defined as the lowest concentration of drug that the laboratory can detect in a specimen with forensic certainty at a minimum of 85% of the time. Overall batch acceptance criteria included acceptable quantitation of control materials (within 20% of target), acceptable chromatography (symmetry, peak integration, peak shape, peak, and baseline resolution), retention time within +1% of the extracted standard, and