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To the Editor: Because the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of red blood cells may be elevated in as many as 89% of patients with chronic alcohol use¹ this test is often used as a marker of ongoing alcohol abuse.² It is not known, however, whether the MCV returns to normal after cessation of chronic alcohol use.

Methods

Subjects were 54 otherwise healthy patients (46 men, 8 women) with a history of chronic alcoholism, who were followed-up for 10-25 (median, 21) months of strictly controlled abstinence. Their median age was 42.5 (range, 26-63) years and they had been alcohol dependent (according to DSMIV criteria) for 15 (range, 6-37) years with an average daily consumption of 300 (range, 120-900) g of pure alcohol. After an inpatient detoxification period, subjects participated in a 2-year outpatient program that included counseling and use of disulfiram.³ Abstinence was confirmed by frequent urine tests. A control group comprised . . . [Full Text of this Article]