Blood alcohol concentration for monitoring ethanol treatment to prevent alcohol withdrawal in the intensive care unit.
OBJECTIVE
Alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) is a serious complication during postoperative treatment in chronic alcoholics. Despite prophylactic treatment, AWS occurs in at least 25% of these patients after elective surgery. An established protocol for the prevention of AWS is ethanol administration. The aim of this study was to evaluate possible differences in ethanol dose and levels between successfully treated patients and those who developed AWS.


METHODS
Prospective, observational study with retrospective post hoc analysis.


METHODS
Intensive care unit (ICU).


METHODS
Thirty-two alcohol-dependent patients undergoing elective or emergency surgery after trauma with postoperative admission to ICU.


METHODS
Continuous postoperative i.v. ethanol substitution.


RESULTS
Despite treatment, 13 patients developed AWS (failure group) and therapy was successful in the other 19 patients (success group). Major complications occurred more frequently in the failure group. The total dose of ethanol treatment and ethanol levels did not differ between the groups. Ethanol levels were determined in whole arterial blood (aBAC) and simultaneously taken in venous blood (vBAC), urine (UAC) and exhaled air (EAC). The following bias and precision, compared with aBAC, were found: vBAC less than UAC less than EAC.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a high failure rate for i.v. ethanol prophylaxis. None of the methods to determine alcohol concentration were sufficient to monitor suitable ethanol treatment. It therefore seems to be more useful to titrate the individual dose for each patient by closer monitoring of the clinical status, adding additional therapy to counteract AWS if higher ethanol doses are required.
Eggers
Verena
V
Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Charité, Charité Campus Mitte, Schumannstrasse 20/21, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
Tio
Joke
J
Neumann
Tim
T
Pragst
Fritz
F
Müller
Christian
C
Schmidt
Lutz G
LG
Kox
Wolfgang J
WJ
Spies
Claudia D
CD
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000097:blood* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery
D000431:Ethanol