DYNAMICS OF CLINICAL AND LABORATORY MANIF ESTATIONS OF DEVELOPMENT OFALCOHOLIC HEART-DISEASE

Two hundred ninety four patients with alcoholism (185 with and 109 wit hout clinical signs of alcoholic cardiac damage) were studied. Patient s without overt alcoholic heart disease had increased septal wall thic kness and left ventricular end-diastolic volume and decreased shorteni ng of left ventricular anterior-posterior dimension. Patients with cli nical signs of alcoholic cardiac damage had increased left ventricular end-systolic and end-diastolic volumes and myocardial mass and decrea sed ejection fraction. The following changes of blood serum levels of free amino acids were found in all patients: decrease of total amino a cid pool, lowering of concentration of branched-chain and rise of conc entration of aromatic amino acids. Dysaminoacidemia did not depend on the presence of hepatic steatosis (which was found in about 30% of pat ients) and rose significantly with development of alcoholic heart dise ase. It was concluded that alcoholic heart disease had a premorbid sta ge and that unbalance of amino acids played an active role in the deve lopment of alcoholic cardiac damage.