Structural and functional cardiac changes in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis
Aim. To evaluate structural and functional cardiac changes in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis in relation to the severity of liver disease.Material and methods. We studied 80 patients with alco- holic liver cirrhosis without history of cardiovascular and res- piratory disease. Plasma NT-proBNP levels were evaluated in60 patients.Results. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and LV diasto-lic dysfunction were found in 33 (40.7%) and 58 (71.6%) pati-ents, respectively. Systolic pressure in pulmonary artery waselevated above 30 mmHg in 13 (16%) patients. Left ventricleejection fraction was normal, but global longitudinal strain ofleft ventricle was impaired. QTc prolongation was detected in45 (55%) patients, averaging 0.46±0.08 s. NT-proBNP eleva-tion (>125 pg/ml) was observed in 47 (58%) patients. NT-proBNP level positively correlated with the Child-Pugh(R=0.28, p<0.05) and MELD scores (R=0.27, p<0.05). Therewas no relationship between the severity of cirrhosis andstructural cardiac changes.Conclusion. Patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis fre-quently demostrate structural and functional cardiac changessuch as left ventricular hypertrophy, diastolic dysfunction,global longitudinal strain and QTc interval prolongation whilesystolic pressure in pulmonary artery was usually normal. NT-proBNP elevation was observed in more than half of the pati-ents and directly correlated with the severity of cirrhosis.