[Non-invasive evaluation of left ventricular function in chronic alcoholics. Histo-morphological and echo-polygraphic...

Alcohol decreases myocardial contractility through direct, toxic effect. Ingestion of more than 150 g per day for more than 10 years carries a high risk of developing alcoholic cardiomyopathy. The discontinuance of alcohol intake--if put into effect early in the natural history of patients with alcoholic cardiomyopathy--commonly but not invariably results in remission of heart failure. In order to evaluate the left ventricular (LV) function and to find out a possible correlation between the degree of cardiac dysfunction and the severity of the morpho-functional aspects of alcoholic liver disease, 20 chronic alcoholic patients without clinical evidence of heart disease were examined. Echocardiography, systolic time intervals, mechanical polygraphic recordings and liver biopsy were obtained. According to the morphological alterations showed by the needle biopsy of the liver, we separated 12 patients with liver steatosis (Group I) from 8 subjects with alcoholic hepatitis and fibrosis. In Group I LVET, ICT, PEP/LVET indices and LV fractional shortening (delta %) were not statistically different from control subjects. Patients of Group II showed marked impairment of myocardial function, as revealed by significant ICT, PEP, PEP/LVET prolongation and by an equally significant reduction of fractional shortening of the LV. The noninvasive method has proved to be quite useful in detecting early LV dysfunction in asymptomatic chronic alcoholics and has revealed a correlation between the severity of the morphological involvement of the liver and the impairment of cardiac performance.