A COMPARATIVE-STUDY BETWEEN CARBOHYDRATE-DEFICIENT TRANSFERRIN AND GAMMA-GLUTAMYL-TRANSFERASE FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF EXCESSIVE DRINKING IN A LIVER UNIT

Aim: To compare the efficacy of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin and gamma-glutamyltransferase for the diagnosis of excessive alcohol inta ke in patients admitted in a liver unit. Methods: The 336 patients mer e divided into three groups of alcoholics: 57 patients (31 men, 26 wom en) with a normal liver, 77 patients (51 men, 26 women) with non-cirrh otic alcoholic liver disease, and 61 patients (43 men, 18 women) with alcoholic cirrhosis; and three groups of non-alcoholics: 35 abstainers (21 men, 14 women), and 58 healthy blood donors (26 men, 32 women), a nd 58 patients (32 men, 26 women) who had a non-alcoholic liver diseas e, Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin and gamma-glutamyltransferase we re measured at admission using commercially available kits. Results: C arbohydrate-deficient transferrin was more sensitive than gamma-glutam yltransferase in patients without alcoholic liver disease, in both men (85 vs 54%) and women (64 vs 36%), Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin sensitivity decreased slightly but not significantly according to the severity of the liver disease in men and women, The sensitivity of ga mma-glutamyltransferase which was low in men and women without alcohol ic liver disease, improved in groups with moderate or severe alcoholic liver disease: not less than 80% in men and up to 100% in women, The specificity of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in patients with non -alcoholic liver disease was consistently higher than that of gamma-gl utamyltransferase (80% vs 60%). Conclusions: In liver units, carbohydr ate-deficient transferrin can help to identify excessive drinkers with out liver disease with a higher efficacy than that of gamma-glutamyltr ansferase; carbohydrate-deficient transferrin can also be used to dist inguish between alcoholics with moderate liver disease and patients wi th non-alcoholic liver diseases.