Staufer K, Yegles M. Biomarkers for detection of alcohol consumption in liver transplantation. World J Gastroenterol 2016; 22(14): 3725-3734 [PMID: 27076757 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i14.3725]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Katharina Staufer, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, A-1090, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria. katharina.staufer@meduniwien.ac.at
Research Domain of This Article
Transplantation
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 14, 2016; 22(14): 3725-3734 Published online Apr 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i14.3725
Biomarkers for detection of alcohol consumption in liver transplantation
Katharina Staufer, Michel Yegles
Katharina Staufer, Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Michel Yegles, Laboratoire National de Santé, Service de Toxicologie médico-légale 1, rue Louis Rech, L-3555 Dudelange, Luxembourg
Author contributions: Staufer K contributed to conception and writing of article; Yegles M contributed to scientific advise.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Katharina Staufer, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, A-1090, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria. katharina.staufer@meduniwien.ac.at
Telephone: +43-1-4040068700 Fax: +43-1-4040068720
Received: December 21, 2015 Peer-review started: December 24, 2015 First decision: January 13, 2016 Revised: January 26, 2016 Accepted: February 20, 2016 Article in press: February 21, 2016 Published online: April 14, 2016 Processing time: 98 Days and 17.9 Hours
Abstract
Alcoholic liver disease is an established, yet controversial, indication for liver transplantation. Although an abstinence period of up to 6 mo prior to transplantation is mandatory, alcohol relapse after transplantation is a common event. In case of recurrence of heavy drinking, graft survival is significantly impaired. Guidelines on detection and surveillance of alcohol consumption in this patient cohort are lacking. This review summarizes the challenge of patient selection as well as the current knowledge on established and novel alcohol biomarkers with special focus on liver transplant candidates and recipients.
Core tip: Currently, consensus statements on alcohol screening prior to and after liver transplantation are lacking. Routinely applied alcohol markers have certain limitations in the setting of liver disease and end-stage cirrhosis. Novel alcohol biomarkers, such as ethyl glucuronide in urine and hair as well as phosphatidylethanol, however, show promise to significantly improve the selection and surveillance of patients within the liver transplant setting.
