What is alcoholic cardiomyopathy?

Alcoholic cardiomyopathy, according to the current classification, is a secondary disease and refers to the toxic form of dilated cardiomyopathy. It is characterized by selective damage to the myocardium due to prolonged abuse of alcoholic beverages.

The disease is considered quite common and accounts for almost a third of all diagnosed dilated cardiomyopathies. This is an urgent problem in Russia and European countries, where a large part of the adult population consumes alcohol in small and moderate amounts, and about 10% - in significant. It is difficult to accurately determine the prevalence of the disease, as many deny the pathological predilection for alcohol. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy - the cause of death of about 10-20% of patients with chronic alcoholism.

The main factors of development - a certain amount and duration of exposure to ethanol and its metabolites on the heart muscle. According to experts, the disease is susceptible to people taking 100 ml of pure ethanol daily for 10-20 years. Approximately half of them experience alcoholic cardiomyopathy.

Symptoms

At the very beginning of the disease, stagnation and heart rhythm disturbances are observed, which are manifested by swelling and shortness of breath during physical exertion. The patients, as a rule, categorically deny the fact that they abuse alcohol, and in no way connect the first symptoms with their addiction.

Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is characterized by the following classic symptoms:

1. General weakness, fast fatigue.

2. Feeling of heat.

3. Increased sweating.

4. Shortness of breath and severe palpitations during exercise.

5. Constant pain in the heart.

At first, these symptoms appear only the next day after drinking large doses of alcohol and are absent during abstinence. With the progression of the disease, sooner or later a moment comes when these signs do not completely disappear and become permanent. Patients complain of severe shortness of breath and night attacks of suffocation, which indicates the development of heart failure.

When examining a patient, one can observe typical signs of a person suffering from chronic alcoholism:

• Red puffy face;

• Purplish nose with dilated capillaries;

• Excited state, talkative, fussy;

• Tremor of hands;

• Coldness of limbs;

• Overweight or excessive leanness;

• Yellowness sclera;

• Red eyes;

• Dyspnea at rest.

When examining a patient, they detect increased blood pressure, arrhythmia, tachycardia, muffled heart sounds , systolic murmur at the apex of the heart. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy can be accompanied by cirrhosis of the liver, erosive gastritis, stomach ulcer, chronic hepatitis, kidney damage due to the toxic effect of alcohol.

The disease develops gradually and for a long time has no symptoms. There are three stages.

The first one lasts about 10 years. A person complains of a headache, palpitations, sweating, irritability, insomnia, shortness of breath, pain in the heart. At this stage, there is high blood pressure, tachycardia, but the heart muscle has not yet been increased.

In patients with experience of alcohol abuse for more than 10 years, you can find signs such as a puffiness of the face, blueing of the nose, ears, fingertips. Even with small loads, dyspnoea and cough appear. The heart muscle increases, arrhythmia arises, heart failure develops.

In the third stage, cardiosclerosis progresses rapidly and irreversible morphological changes occur in the heart.

Who is sick

As a rule, alcoholic cardiomyopathy is observed mainly in men aged 35-50 years who abuse strong drinks, beer or wine for at least 10 years. Women suffer less often, however, less time is needed for the development of the disease, since the required dose of ethanol is approximately 60 ml, and the heart muscle is more sensitive to this kind of toxins.

Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is more common in representatives of the lower social strata, who usually eat poorly. The lack of vitamins and proteins plays a role in the development of the disease.