Urinary Ethyl Glucuronide

Specimen

Urine

Units

ug/L

Reference range

<=200 ug/L

Test Usage

Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate (EtS) are metabolites of ethanol and are measured to assess recent alcohol consumption. Research data suggests that EtG is detectable in urine for 72-90 hours (Wienmann et al., 2004). There have been far fewer studies carried out on EtS but work done by Hoiseth et al (2008) suggested that EtS is detectable in urine for at least 40 hours. Therefore, quantitation of urinary EtG and EtS can provide an objective measure of alcohol abstinence and can be used in the evaluation of liver transplant patients.

Turnaround Time

10 working days

Availability

Cannot be added onto existing requests. Please note, this test can only be ordered by gastroenterology/hepatology consultants.

Referred test: Assayed at King’s College Hospital