Treatment of alcohol dependence: Experiences of using biological markers in monitoring and prevention of relapse

Abstract

The treatment modalities for alcohol consumption are briefly reviewed with special emphasis on brief motivational intervention. The usefulness of laboratory markers of alcohol consumption in identifying relapses and as adjuncts to therapy programmes is highlighted. The recently developed marker, carbohydrate-deficient transferrin, has proven to be a promising test and its use to monitor relapse in patients using each patient's cut-off value offers advantages over group cut-offs.