The heart that suffers in silence - a clinical case

A 52-year-old patient, aged 52, came to an appointment with Starosvetskaya Victoria Grigoryevna, a cardiologist, a doctor of functional diagnostics K+31 on Lobachevskogo, for a planned mandatory diagnosis before colonoscopy under anesthesia. He was never worried about the heart, the whole day he was preparing for another study.

But on the cardiogram, Victoria Grigoryevna saw pronounced changes. The patient did not believe it, it was easier for him to accept that the doctor could make a mistake, incorrectly apply the electrodes. But Victoria Grigoryevna is a persistent doctor. Practically by the hand, she took our patient to the ultrasound.

It showed a severe decrease in the contractility of the heart (at a rate of 60 he had 29!), which practically did not fulfill its functions. Expansion of all departments. With such indicators, a person becomes a candidate for a transplant.

When they began to figure out what was the cause, it turned out that our patient is a big wine lover. For many years he drank a bottle almost every day. He was diagnosed with alcoholic cardiomyopathy. With such a high consumption, the liver usually suffers, but the heart failed (up to 30% of non-ischemic cardiomyopathies are caused by alcohol). In this case, we recall that the patient had NO symptoms.

But literally in a month or a little more, he would have swelling, he would not be able to cope with physical activity, and in the end everything could end in death.

The patient was admitted to the hospital, given supportive care to slow down the deterioration, and suggested that he go to a transplant center. Unfortunately, his heart was so worn out that we can only delay the moment when he needs a new heart.