BLOOD-TESTS FOR DETECTION OF ALCOHOLIC CAUSE OF ACUTE-PANCREATITIS

We investigated the ability of various blood markers to detect an alco holic cause of acute pancreatitis. Serum carbohydrate-deficient transf errin (CDT) was significantly correlated with reported 2 month and 7 d ay ethanol consumptions and was significantly higher in 42 patients wi th alcoholic acute pancreatitis and in 24 patients with possibly alcoh olic acute pancreatitis than in 20 patients with non-alcoholic disease . At a cutoff over 17 U/L, the specificity of CDT was 100% and the sen sitivity was 75% to detect an alcoholic cause of acute pancreatitis. T he lipase/amylase ratio index, erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume, an d gamma glutamyl transferase could not distinguish alcoholic from non- alcoholic acute pancreatitis.