Diastolic Function Impairment in Alcoholics

Abstract

There seems to be a dose-dependent effect of ethanol on systolic and diastolic heart function. Diastolic function impairment is present in one third of alcoholics with normal systolic function and is even more frequent when systolic dysfunction coexists.

Evidence of apoptosis in alcoholic cardiomyopathy☆

“…Because of the widespread consumption of alcohol, alcoholic heart muscle disease is one of the most frequent causes of acquired 0046 nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy in developed countries [4], affecting as many as 13% of excessive alcohol consumers [1]. Most cases remain asymptomatic for a long time, being detectable only by cardiac function studies, which evidence diastolic left ventricular dysfunction initially and systolic left ventricular dysfunction subsequently [5]. As the disease progresses, however, patients frequently present with overt congestive heart failure and dysrhythmias and have a high risk of facing sudden death [3,4].…”

Left Atrial Function by Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography in Chronic Asymptomatic Alcoholic Patients

“…Another study showed no differences in impaired LV diastolic filling in chronic alcoholics by using M-Mode [4]. Moreover, Cerqueira et al [6] showed no differences in LV diastolic function in asymptomatic alcoholics, whereas Fernández-Solà et al [8] found that there was a strong relationship between ethanol consumption and LV diastolic dysfunction, with a significant correlation between the TLDE and the decrease of E/A index. They concluded that alcohol had a negative effect on diastolic LV function in a dose-dependent manner.…”

“…Although the effect of chronic alcoholism on systolic function is well established, diastolic involvement has been evaluated partially [8,11]. Additionally, studies investigating the effects of chronic alcohol consumption on diastolic function have yielded conflicting results.…”

“…In order to calculate the total dose of ethanol consumed in their lifetime (total lifetime dose of ethanol, TLDE), this was expressed in kg of ethanol/kg of body weight and was estimated by first multiplying the daily consumption of ethanol by the number of days of the periods of exposure to alcohol and then dividing the product by the body weight of the patient when first admitted. Since TLDE was reported to be a good predictor of LV function in alcoholic patients [8,16], in advance of data collection, we decided to classify alcoholic patients into two groups according to the TLDE values: group I (TLDE \15 kg ethanol/kg body weight) and group II (TLDE C15 kg ethanol/kg body weight). Because there is no cutoff value for TLDE or other markers such as, duration of drinking and daily alcohol consumption, in this article, we calculated the cutoff level for TLDE as presuming that someone (male gender) is 80-85 kg and drinking more than 17 years (average of 15 and 20 years, coming from previous studies).…”

“…Studies investigating LV diastolic dysfunction have yielded conflicting results. While some studies found the normal LV filling [3][4][5][6], some of them reported impaired LV filling [7][8][9][10][11]. Possible reasons for these discrepancies may be due to the different methods used to assess diastolic function.…”