The electrocardiogram of alcoholic cardiomyopathy

The harmful effects of excessive alcohol consumption on the liver have long been recognized. A corresponding injury to the heart has not received the same attention except as part of the syndrome of beriberi attributable to thiamine deficiency. Not infrequently, however, when some form of heart disease is suspected on account of symptoms like breathlessness, palpitation, or chest pain, and when signs elicited from examination of the heart are equivocal, the true diagnosis may go undiscovered, especially if coronary arterial disease is too readily imputed as the cause of electro-cardiographic changes that may be present. In such instances, information about the quantity of alcohol consumed is seldom sought, and addiction to it is not rigorously canvassed. It should be known that when the ill-effects of alcohol on the myocardium are slight, withdrawal of alcohol can halt the pathological process, but should these earlier injurious effects go unheeded through some years, the resulting cardiomyopathy will no longer subside following such abstinence. It is for this reason that early myocardial damage from alcoholism is so important to detect, and it is the purpose of this paper to describe changes in the electrocardiogram that will facilitate this readier recognition. HOW THE PATIENTS WERE ASSEMBLE