[Serum gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase and alcoholism. Diagnosis and control of withdrawal]

The gammaGT of a generally healthy population is abnormally high due to the presence of ethanol in the diet. We confirm Rosalki's finding that a high proportion of alchoholics show an increased gammaGT activity. After alcohol deprivation, the gammaGT of alcoholics decreases in the first few days according to an exponential law with a half-time of return to normal of 5-17 days. Among past alcoholics, those who stopped drinking for a year have a lower GT activity (mean: 21 mU/ml) than a generally healthy population and in the range of Szasz's reference values. Alcoholics who did not stop drinking have a higher gammaGT activity (mean: 172). Ascitic cirrhotics who drink at least 1 liter of wine per day have also a high activity (mean: 139) while those who stopped drinking for at least 2 months have a much lower activity (mean: 49) and those who stopped for a year a normal activity. In 10 out of 11 alcoholic cirrhotics who stopped drinking, the gammaGT decreased (half-time: 11-54 days). These results show that the determination of gammaGT activity is a good test for the detection of ethanol impregnation.