Long-Term Prognosis in Patients With Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy and Severe Heart Failure After Total Abstinence

The treatment of chronic heart failure due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction

“…Lifestyle modifications should be encouraged, for example stopping smoking and alcohol, 26 losing excess weight and taking regular aerobic exercise. 27 Annual immunisation for influenza and pneumococcus is recommended.…”

Dilated Cardiomyopathies as a Cause of Congestive Heart Failure

“…ST segment and T wave changes are often restored to normal within several days after cessation of alcohol consumption. Total abstinence in the early stages of the disease may lead to resolution of the manifestations of CHF and a return of heart size toward normal, although patients with severe heart failure may show no improvement in function or prognosis [105,112]. For patients with severe CHF, it is prudent to administer thiamine on the chance that beriberi may be contributing to the heart failure [112].…”

Cardiac benefits after alcohol withdrawal

“…An important difference between ACM and IDCM, is that the former has a good prognosis if abstinence of alcohol is kept, while the latter has a worse survival outcome 4 ; in fact many studies, concerning the prognosis of these patients, confirmed the reversibility or the partial recovery of cardiac function after abstinence from alcohol intake 5 . At the same time, for alcoholic patients that refuse abstinence, the prognosis becomes worse than for IDCM patients, with a very short survival outcome3.…”