Abstract
Objective In Germany, among patients with minor head injury (MHI), the incidence of coexisting
alcohol intoxication is indicated up to 50%. The neurological symptoms of patients
with MHI may be caused or altered by alcohol intoxication, this could mislead to further,
potential harmful, diagnostic steps or to misinterpretation of the symptoms and to
non-execution of necessary treatments. In order to decide which patients need further
diagnostics by CCT, S100B has been proposed as a potential selection criterion. On
the other hand, studies have hypothesized that alcohol intoxication may lead to elevated
S100B serum levels. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the relationship
between the blood ethyl alcohol concentration and the S100B serum concentration in
an experimental setting in young human adult volunteers.
Methods In a cohort of 58 healthy volunteers, serum S100B concentration and blood ethyl alcohol
concentration were measured before and after liberately drinking alcohol. The study
was approved by the local Ethics Committee of the Medical Faculty Mannheim (Ethics
Committee II, AZ 2012-272 N-MA). Instantaneous analysis of the samples was carried
out using state-of-the art automated measuring systems. (Analyzer Cobas e411, Roche
and Analyzer Dimension Vista 1500, Siemens).
Results After drinking, alcohol levels ranged from 0,23 to 1,92 g/l. The S100B value ranged
from to 0,021 to 0,115 µg/l after alcohol consumption (S100B standard value < 0,11 µg/l).
By calculating the Pearson correlation of empirical correlation after drinking alcohol
with r = 0.01181, a correlation between serum S100B concentration and ethyl alcohol
concentration is not probable. The S100B concentrations were independent on the alcohol
intake in low to medium alcohol levels.
Conclusion A relevant alcohol blood concentration (~ 1 g/l), in otherwise healthy volunteers,
does not affect the serum concentration of S100B. S100B may be a useful brain injury
marker in low to moderate drunken patients.
Key words
S100B - minor head injury (MHI) - alcohol intoxication - serum brain markers