Carbohydrate-Deficient Transferrin and Alcohol use in Medical Examiner Cases

This study evaluates the utility of (carbohydrate-Deficient Transferrin) CDT as a marker for chronic alcohol use in medical examiner cases. Over a 5-month period 25 serum specimens were collected in consecutive deaths. Homicide/suicide were the cause of 8 cases. The data suggests that if CDT levels are used to detect antemortem alcohol abuse in postmortem samples, that a positive test should raise the index of suspicion but that confirmatory history should be obtained.