[Systolic time intervals in chronic calcifying pancreatitis caused by alcohol abuse]

Systolic time intervals corrected for heart rate were measured non invasively in 12 male patients (32 to 59 years) with chronic calcifying pancreatitis of alcoholic origin and compared with 24 normal subjects without evidence for chronic alcoholism or heart disease. Systolic time intervals (in detail: the time from the beginning of QRS to the first heart sound (QS1), the isovolumic contraction time (IVCT), the total electromechanical systolic interval (QS2c), the pre-ejection period (PEPc), the left ventricular ejection time (LVETc) and the ratio PEPc/LVETc) in patients with chronic calcifying pancreatitis were not different when compared with healthy man. Therefore we conclude, that the amount of alcohol that induced a chronic calcifying pancreatitis was not able to alter systolic time intervals as seen in an alcoholic cardiomyopathy.