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Naltrexone (NTX) has been shown to be a useful drug for the treatment of alcohol dependence (AD). Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) in serum is a new biologic marker of alcohol abuse. To evaluate the efficacy of NTX (50 mg/d) in AD, a group of 20 alcoholics with CDT > 20 U/l was studied using monthly laboratory tests (CDT, ESR, AST, ALT, GGT) and specific psychological testing (CAGE). After the second month statistically significant differences in CDT levels were found. By the end of the study, 13 patients (responders) had normalized their CDT levels. There was no correlation between CDT values and the other laboratory markers. The difference in routine laboratory markers between responders and non responders was not significant. NTX was well tolerated by all the patients and significant alcohol abstinence was achieved. CDT was demonstrated to be a effective marker for the evaluation of alcoholic abstinence during treatment with NTX. Superior results were obtained in comparison with the routine customary markers for AD.

Paragangliomas are tumors of the chromaffin system producing catecholamines and both the adrenal extra-adrenal type have a common origin at the neural crest, which has been supported by the similarities of the paraganglions both from a histological and functional perspective. Most of the extra-adrenal paragangliomas are bending and non-functional. In addition, they are usually confined to just one site. We present the case of a young patient with benign multiple paraglanglioma in two different locations, juxtahepatic and juxtacarotic (Chemodectoma) and, thus, far away from each other. The extra-abdominal location is very rare, with a frequency lower than 2%. In addition, one of paraganglions was functional and the other one was not. Initially, a surgical intervention was performed on the functional abdominal tumoration and latter, another intervention was performed at the cervical level, both with excellent results. We also highlight the good response to the postoperative therapy with Prazosin.

The need for new seric markers of tumoral or viral activity to enable an early diagnosis or staging has brought about a proliferation of research in new markers. The deoxi-thymidine-kinase (DTK) is an enzyme of DNA synthesis during cellular proliferation. We review the literature, concluding that DTK is a good seric marker in some neoplasias and some viral diseases because of its specificity, low cost and rapid testing in multiple samples.