PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 2895660

The decrease of low serum gamma glutamyl transferase during short-term abstinence.

J Weill·F Schellenberg·A M Le Goff·J Y Benard
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We present a study of 107 in-patients of a detoxification center. As expected, 81 percent of them showed upon admittance an increased serum gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT). After alcohol withdrawal, GGT decreased in all but one of these patients. More surprisingly, even among the rest of the patients exhibiting upon admittance a GGT result within the reference range, there still occurred a significant decrease in 50 percent of the cases. Thus, whether the initial GGT is high or normal, we observed a decrease in 96 patients out of 107, i.e., a sensitivity of 0.90. The decrease test consists in asking a subject to refrain from any alcohol intake during a short period, e.g., seven days. If any significant diminution of serum GGT occurs, the possibility of alcohol abuse should at least be given serious consideration before being rejected. This test was used up to now only when GGT was initially high. The present results show that it can be attempted even when GGT is initially within the normal range, with a sensitivity of 0.90.

Explore related subjects

AlcoholismFemaleHumansMalePredictive Value of TestsReference ValuesTemperanceTime Factorsgamma-GlutamyltransferaseJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

J Weill, F Schellenberg, A M Le Goff, J Y Benard. The decrease of low serum gamma glutamyl transferase during short-term abstinence.. https://doi.org/10.1016/0741-8329(88)90034-1

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed1992

Long-term mortality after transfusion-associated non-A, non-B hepatitis. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Study Group.

BACKGROUND: Acute non-A, non-B hepatitis after blood transfusion often progresses to chronic hepatitis and sometimes culminates in cirrhosis or even hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the frequency of these sequelae and their effects on mortality are not known. METHODS: We traced patients with transfusion-related non-A, non-B hepatitis who had been identified in five major prospective studies conducted in the United States between 1967 and 1980. We matched each patient with two control subjects (identified as the first and second controls) who received transfusions but who did not have hepatitis. The mortality rates in the three groups were determined with use of data from the National Death Index and Social Security Death Tapes. Cause-specific mortality was determined by reviewing death certificates. RESULTS: Vital status was established for over 94 percent of the 568 patients who had had non-A, non-B hepatitis and the two control groups (526 first controls and 458 second controls). After an average follow-up of 18 years, the estimate by life-table analysis of mortality from all causes was 51 percent for those with transfusion-associated non-A, non-B hepatitis, as compared with 52 percent for the first controls and 50 percent for the second controls. The survival curves for the three groups were virtually the same. Mortality related to liver disease was 3.3, 1.1, and 2.0 percent, respectively, among the three groups (P = 0.033 for the comparison of the group with non-A, non-B hepatitis with the combined control group). Seventy-one percent of the deaths related to liver disease occurred among patients with chronic alcoholism. CONCLUSIONS: In this long-term follow-up study, there was no increase in mortality from all causes after transfusion-associated non-A, non-B hepatitis, although there was a small but statistically significant increase in the number of deaths related to liver disease.

Alcoholism↗