EVALUATION OF CARBOHYDRATE-DEFICIENT TRANSFERRIN FOR DETECTION OF ALCOHOL-ABUSE IN PATIENTS WITH LIVER DYSFUNCTION

The determination of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) in serum has been suggested as a marker of alcohol abuse. We evaluated serum C DT in 199 patients admitted to our Department of Medicine using a comm ercially available radioimmunoassay kit for CDT. A history of alcohol consumption was obtained quantitatively by a self-administered questio nnaire and qualitatively by the Munich Alcoholism Test. Using a cut-of f level of 60g ethanol per day according to the information from the q uestionnaire, CDT had a sensitivity of 70% and a specificity of 84%. F alse-positive values were primarily encountered in cases of hepatic ma lignoma, primary biliary cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis C. The sensit ivity and specificity of CDT was superior to two other markers of chro nic ethanol consumption, serum gamma-glutamyltransferase and mean cell volume, and thus proved to be the best single laboratory test for the detection of alcohol abuse.