The authors selected from hitherto described laboratory tests suggesting addictive, increased alcohol consump- tion those which provide most information and used these tests to examine a group of porphyric patients who admitted alcohol addiction. They compared the results with those from a group of porphyr ic patients not addicted to alcohol, and abstinents: one test was also compared with data from healthy subjects. They found that in porphyric alcohol addicts the most frequent alcohol markers were serum concentrations of immunoglo- bulin IgA, increased activity of aspartate aminotransferase, less frequently of g-glutamyl transferase and an increased erythrocyte volume in the haemogram. The authors recommend to combine thes e examinations to evaluate the patient’s possible alcoholism in all instances where the anamnestic data obtained from the patient and his family are unreliable, the disease does not recede after treatment and exacerbates frequently.

        Key words: alcohol, alcoholism, porphyria cutanea tarda – PCT, liver function tests, IgA, macrocytosis.