The "holiday heart" syndrome

The potential arrhythmogenic effects of alcohol have recently been studied electrophysiologically. These experiments have confirmed clinical observations that alcohol in modest doses has the potential of producing atrial or ventricular arrhythmias. Although many of the patients have underlying heart disease, there are reports of patients with no evident heart disease where acute alcohol injestion has caused arrhythmias. This sequence of events, i.e., cause and effect, has been referred to as the "holiday heart" syndrome.