Myocardial Malfunction in Chronic Alcoholism during Controlled Abstinence

Cardiac malfunction has been described in chronic alcoholics in the absence of clinical manifestations.In an unselected group of 25 chronic alcoholics, a low ejection time index was found as expected, but this index remained low after 2 weeks of abstinence. Since the ejection time index is primarily related to stroke volume, this observation could be explained on the basis of persistently depressed myocardial function.