The effects of ethyl alcohol on the heart.

THE recognition that ethyl alcohol may be associated with heart disease dates back more than 100 years. In the late 1800s Bollinger, Maguire, Osier, MacKenzie, and others suggested that alcohol could cause myocardial disease, and Graham Steell suggested that alcoholism was a comparatively common cause of myocardial failure. Subsequently, the discovery of beriberi heart disease led to the conclusion that heart disease in the alcoholic patient should be attributed to nutritional deficiency. However, during the past 15 years, the view that alcohol is a direct myocardial toxin has been supported by results of several studies in animals and man; alcoholic cardiomyopathy as a clinical entity has been the focus of renewed interest. Infusions of high concentrations of alcohol inhibit myocardial contractility in the turtle, rat, dog, and cat. Long-term oral administration of alcohol results in decreased cardiac contractility in the rat. In well-nourished mice, it leads to a decrease in