title: [Diagnostic value of gamma glutamyl transpeptidase and the mean corpuscular volume in chronic hepatitis of alcoholic etiology].
abstract: In order to assess the diagnostic value of serum gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase (GGT) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) as markers of alcoholism in chronic liver diseases, 107 patients with non-alcoholic chronic liver disease and 192 patients with alcoholic liver disèases have been compared. GGT and MCV values were checked two times: the day of admission to hospital and 10 days after complete withdrawal from alcohol. The patients with alcoholic liver diseases present significantly higher values of GGT and MCV in respect with patients with non-alcoholic liver diseases. A significant (p < 0.05) decrease of about 50% in serum GGT levels and of about 3% in MCV was observed after alcohol withdrawal only in the group of alcoholic liver diseases whereas no changes were found in the other group of patients: For the diagnosis of alcoholism in chronic liver diseases, while the sensitivity and the specificity of the several markers vary from 50% to 86%, the positive predictive values of GGT and MCV at admission were 92.2% and 73.4%, and the negative predictive values were 40.2% and 75.7%, respectively. Moreover, the positive predictive values of GGT and MCV after 10 days of alcohol withdrawal were 95.3% and 85.9% and the negative predictive values were 31.8% and 46.7%, respectively. The contemporary decrease in GGT and MCV values does not seem to offer better informations than GGT decrease. These data suggest that, even if GGT and MCV do appear per se as weak indicators of alcoholism during chronic liver diseases, the early decrease in their values, especially in serum GGT, are good and specific markers of alcohol abuse and, consequently, of the alcoholic etiology of liver disease.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi, L'Aquila.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pasqualetti
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Festuccia
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: MacCarone
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Lauro
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Casale
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D005260:Female; D006505:Hepatitis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000209:etiology; D006519:Hepatitis, Alcoholic / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology*; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase