Developing Trends in Toxicological Examinations in Practice

Overview

Review presented on the occasion of the significant life jubilee of Prof. J. Tesař, MD, DrSc.,16.12.2002 in the Medical House in Prague deals with the development and application of analyticaltechnologies in toxicological practice in the last fifty years, with demands on decreasing thesize of biological samples, detection limits achievable, with possibilities of interpretation deducedfrom analyses of alternative matrices. The paper also informs about scientific guidelines appliedin Europe with attention focused on the reliable detection of illicit drugs in the workplace ordrugs and driving. Based on more advanced analytical strategy, more complete and more preciseinformation can be achieved and consequently more perfect interpretation based on objectiveevidence can be gained and it can comply to „Evidence Based Forensic Toxicology“.

Key words:
development in toxicological analyses - chromatography - immunochemistry - massspectrometry - alternative matrices - objective evidence - range of interpretation