[Immunoinflammatory changes (myocarditis?) in chronic heart failure in alcoholic patients]

To estimate the contribution of immuno-inflammatory changes to the formation of clinical and hemodynamic features in alcoholic patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).

Forty-five males with CHF in the presence of alcohol-induced heart damage (AIHD) who had been admitted to therapeutic units for decompensated heart failure were examined. A control group consisted of 20 men with the CHF severity comparable with the NYHA classification in the presence of prior myocardial infarction. All the patients underwent examination of the immune-inflammatory status--the cytokines: interleukin (IL) 6, IL-8, IL-12, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), transforming growth factor-beta1, endotoxin, cellular immune parameters, and cardiac structure and function by echocardiography.

The patients with CHF in the presence of AIHD, as compared to those with ischemic cardiomyopathy, showed the higher levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-alpha, IL-12, and endotoxin) and cell-mediated immunity changes (the smaller count of suppressor T cells, natural killer cells, and a shift of the T-helper/T-suppressor ratio towards the T-helper population). The magnitude of these changes correlated with the severity of CHF and cardiac morphofunctional changes.

The relationship of immuno-inflammatory changes to the severity of CHF and the morphofunctional state of the heart irrespective of the etiology of heart failure demonstrated the role of immune inflammation in its pathogenesis particularly in alcoholic patients who were found to have more marked immuno-inflammatory changes than in those with ischemic cardiomyopathy.