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Published on: August 8, 2022
[Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy: a brief overview]
Insights
Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy involves heart abnormalities in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis. Early detection and understanding its complex mechanisms are crucial for managing cardiac dysfunction in these patients.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Hepatology
- Internal Medicine
Context:
- Cardiac disorders in alcoholic cirrhosis have been recognized for over 50 years.
- Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy was formally defined in the late 1980s.
- It encompasses cardiac structural and functional issues in cirrhotic patients without other heart diseases.
Purpose:
- To define and characterize cirrhotic cardiomyopathy.
- To outline its diagnostic methods and underlying pathophysiology.
- To discuss current treatment limitations and future considerations.
Summary:
- Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy presents with impaired systolic function (especially under stress), diastolic dysfunction, and electrophysiological abnormalities.
- Diagnosis involves electrocardiogram, echocardiography, and cardiac biomarkers like BNP.
- Complex mechanisms include adrenergic signaling anomalies, myocyte membrane alterations, fibrosis, hypertrophy, hormonal imbalances, and ion channel dysfunction.
Impact:
- Highlights the need to consider cirrhotic cardiomyopathy in patients undergoing TIPS or liver transplantation.
- Emphasizes the lack of specific treatments, making liver transplantation a potential cure.
- Underscores the importance of recognizing and managing cardiac dysfunction in liver cirrhosis.
Abstract:
Even though cardiac disorders were described in alcoholic cirrhosis more than fifty years ago, cirrhotic cardiomyopathy was not defined until the end of the eighties. The term is used to describe all the cardiac structural and functional abnormalities observed in cirrhotic patients without any underlying cardiac disease. This cardiomyopathy is characterized by impaired systolic function, often unmasked during stress, diastolic dysfunction, and electrophysiological abnormalities. It can be detected by the electrocardiogram, transthoracic echocardiography and measurements of cardiac biomarkers (BNP). The pathophysiological mechanisms underlying this disease are complex: anomalies of adrenergic transduction pathways, alterations of myocyte membrane fluidity, fibrosis, cardiac hypertrophy, hormonal disturbances, and various ion channels derangements. To date, there is no specific treatment. Liver transplantation may be curative. The possibility of such a condition must be taken into account, when a TIPS or a liver transplantation are considered.
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