[Methanol level and methanol elimination in alcoholic patients]

A total of 54 male alcoholics aged between 26 and 57 years who had been admitted in an intoxicated state to a psychiatric hospital for acute care and subsequent detoxification were included in the study. The blood ethanol concentration (BEC) and serum methanol concentration (SMC) at the time of admission (n = 49) and the methanol elimination curve during ethanol elimination (n = 19) and after the ethanol concentration had fallen to zero (n = 4) were investigated. On admission, the BEC ranged from 0.21 g/kg to 3.26 g/kg and the SMC ranged from 5 mg/kg to 44 mg/kg. The gamma-alcoholics (n = 28) exhibited higher ethanol concentrations than the delta-alcoholics (n = 11) but no difference was found in the methanol concentrations. The methanol level was found to be related to the ethanol level in gamma-alcoholics (r = 0.671; p < 0.001), but not in d-alcoholics (r = 0.215; p > 0.05). The methanol content of the most recently consumed and generally preferred type of alcoholic beverage was found to influence the SMC in all the alcoholics. The SMC did not fall during ethanol oxidation (BEC > 0.2g/kg). After the ethanol concentration had fallen to zero, methanol elimination was found to follow first order kinetics; the elimination constants ranged from 0.592 h-1 to 0.209 h-1, corresponding to elimination half-life values of 1.2 h to 3.3 h. No differences were found between these values and those of non-alcoholic subjects.