Indications:
The alcolock is compulsory in cases of serious offenses or injury accident on the highway. When this test is positive, a blood alcohol is produced, to quantitatively determine blood alcohol levels.
Principle:
Is carried out in serum measuring ethanol concentration.
Technique:
5mL venous blood sampling on sodium fluoride, after disinfection with nonalcoholic aqueous solution.
To comply with the law, a double sampling 10mL of blood must be taken.
The assay itself is performed either colorimetrically after distillation or by chromatography gas phase, or by enzymatic method.
Results:
Normal values:
BAC is zero in a person who has not consumed alcohol.
Pathological changes:
– Absorption of a liter of wine causes a BAC of 1 g / L;
-> 0.5 g / L: tort alcohol;
– Between 1 and 3 g / L: drunkenness is more or less marked according to each person;
-> 3 g / L: risk of alcoholic coma.
After drinking alcohol, the passage in the blood is rapid and maximum between half an hour and three quarters of an hour if the stomach is full. The decrease in concentration is 0.15 g / L / hour on average, however great individual variations.
Cost:
B50.
Practical advice:
The skin disinfection can be done either with an alcohol solution or ether or with iodine solution: the examination could be declared void. In chronic alcoholism include an increased MCV (mean corpuscular volume) to the NFS; increased Ɣ-GT (gamma glutamyl transferase) signs of liver damage, as well as those of transaminases AST and ALT.
