Alcoholic cardiomyopathy: Treatments, outlook, and more

Alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy is a condition where your heart changes shape because of long-term heavy alcohol use. The changes to your heart’s shape cause long-term damage, leading to heart failure and severe problems. Abstaining from alcohol may help some people recover, but others will need medication or even surgery. Results from serum chemistry evaluations have not been shown to be useful for distinguishing patients with alcoholic cardiomyopathy (AC) from those with other forms of dilated cardiomyopathy (DC). Results from evaluations of mean cell volume, aspartate aminotransferase levels, alanine aminotransferase levels, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels, and gamma-glutamyltransferase levels have been shown to be similar in persons with AC to those in persons with other forms of DC.

A single-center cohort study

• It is always advisable to be mindful of individual tolerance and consume alcohol responsibly [4-6].
• Basic research studies have described an abundance of mechanisms that could underscore the functional and structural alterations found in ACM.
• Thus, although there is a certain degree of consensus regarding the recommendation of full alcohol withdrawal in ACM, it is yet to be resolved whether moderate alcohol consumption is sufficient to achieve an improvement in the prognosis of these patients.

Also, current common cardiac therapies such as ICD and CRT devices were not used because of the period when the study was conducted. After a follow-up period of 47 mo, a significantly higher survival rate was observed among patients with DCM compared to patients with ACM. In this study, the only independent predictor of cardiac death was alcohol abstinence. Finally, it is worth stressing that a large majority of studies on the physiopathology and prognosis of ACM were conducted some years ago, prior to the development of our current understanding regarding the role of genetics in DCM[67]. According to recent data, a genetic form of DCM could be present in up to 50% of idiopathic DCM cases, and other specific forms of DCM such as peripartum cardiomyopathy have been shown to have a genetic basis in a significant number of cases[68]. It is therefore possible that patients with ACM could also harbour a genetic substrate that predisposes them to this form of cardiomyopathy.

Clinical work-up for alcoholic cardiomyopathy

Additional studies included 24-hour ECG monitoring and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Coronary angiography, coronary artery computed tomography (CT), or nuclear medicine testing was performed to rule out coronary heart diseases. The effect measure for each outcome was conducted using the mean differences effect measure, where the outcomes were assessed in identical units across the various literature reviews used in the study.

Blood Pressure & Fluid Regulation

Long-term alcohol abuse weakens and thins the heart muscle, affecting its ability to pump blood. When your heart can’t pump blood efficiently, the lack of blood flow disrupts all your body’s major functions. In 1819 the Irish physician Dr. Samuel Black, who had a special interest in angina pectoris described what is probably the first commentary pertinent to the ”French Paradox“ [91]. This refers to the finding in the last century that moderate alcohol consumption could be the reason for the relatively low cardiovascular disease incidence in wine-drinking regions [92].

It’s important to be honest with your doctor about the extent of your alcohol use, including the number and amount of drinks you have each day. This will make it easier for them to make a diagnosis and develop a treatment plan. Alcohol abuse has a toxic effect on many of your organs, including the heart. When it can’t pump out enough alcoholic cardiomyopathy is especially dangerous because blood, the heart starts to expand to hold the extra blood. Eventually, the heart muscle and blood vessels may stop functioning properly due to the damage and strain. In the Caerphilly prospective heart disease study, platelet aggregation induced by adenosine diphosphate was also inhibited in subjects who drank alcohol [99].

Mental & Emotional Effects

Furthermore, for this review, certainty assessment was conducted by assessing the risk of bias, imprecision, inconsistency, and indirectness of the presented evidence. Through a thematic synthesis, we identified common trends, knowledge gaps, and emerging research areas related to ACM. To assess the quality and validity of the included studies, we performed a critical appraisal using appropriate tools such as the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for observational studies or the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool for clinical trials. This assessment allowed us to evaluate the methodological rigor of each study and determine its overall quality and potential impact on the literature review. Finally, we analyzed and presented the synthesized literature, along with relevant findings and conclusions from the included studies, in a coherent manner.

Interestingly, the amount of fat deemed high (35% of calories) is similar to the amount consumed by most Americans. Ethanol, the main component of alcoholic beverages, https://ecosoberhouse.com/ has toxic effects on cardiac cells. Chronic alcohol consumption damages these cells in the heart muscle, interfering with its structure and function.

How to Diagnose ACM

These studies were performed in experimental conditions in which there may be multiple mitochondrial deficits and therefore need to be interpreted with caution. More research is required using more contemporary measures of mitochondrial function as well as determining changes in mitochondrial DNA. We reviewed the effects of ethanol on the cardiovascular system in 1996 [15], including aspects of inflammation [16], rhythm disturbances [17], and hypertension [18]. In 2001 we updated the data on the ambivalent relationship between alcohol and the heart [19] and in 2008 added new evidence on a larger cohort of patients with different forms of cardiomyopathy and increased alcohol intake from the German competence network on heart failure [20]. Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is a form of heart disease that results from long-term excessive alcohol consumption.[1] It’s a condition where the heart muscle weakens and can’t pump blood effectively, potentially leading to heart failure. Alcohol abuse can cause cardiomyopathy indistinguishable from other types of dilated nonischemic cardiomyopathy.

Study design: