Blood Test Might Alert Doctors to Problem Drinking
Blood Test Might Alert Doctors to Problem Drinking By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, Dec. 13, 2024 -- Have you been boozing more often than usual? Researchers report that a new blood test might detect whether you're damaging your liver from drinking too many beers, margaritas, or belts of scotch. A blood-borne byproduct of alcohol consumption called phosphatidylethanol (PEth) can give doctors a fair idea of how much liver scarring has occurred due to drinking, as reported recently in the American Journal of Gastroenterology . Blood testing for PEth would help doctors understand patients' drinking habits better than just asking how much they've been drinking. "This is a more direct way to measure the harm that alcohol is causing in the body than asking patients," said senior researcher Judy Hahn , a professor in the University of California, San Francisco's (UCSF) Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine. "We don't ...