Human scalp hair as evidence of individual dosage history of haloperidol: method and retrospective study.

Hair samples and morning pre-dose plasma were collected from 40 patients who had received fixed daily doses of haloperidol for more than four months and whose compliance was good. After washing, 1 to 2 cm-long portions nearest to the roots of 2 to 3 strands of hair were completely dissolved in 2.5N NaOH. Haloperidol in that sample or alkalinised plasma was extracted and measured by RIA. Haloperidol concentrations in hair correlated well both with the trough concentration in plasma at steady-state (r = 0.772, n = 39) and with the daily dose (r = 0.555, n = 40). Another keratinized tissue, nail, was also collected from 20 of the 40 patients and the haloperidol level was compared with that in hair. The former was only about 4.3% of the latter and was significantly correlated only with the daily dose (r = 0.525, n = 20). Hair from 10 other patients in whom the dosage of haloperidol had been changed within a few months prior to sampling the hair was cut into 0.5 or 1 cm-long portions from the roots and the drug concentration in each portion was measured. If hairs were assumed to grow at 1 cm/month, a history of individual dosage could be deduced in 9 of the 10 patients from the distribution of drug level along the length of the hair. The results suggest that human scalp hair could serve as a useful tool for monitoring individual dosage history over several months, or in demonstrating exposure or non-exposure of a patient to a drug.