SIGNAL-AVERAGED ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY IN ASYMPTOMATIC ALCOHOLICS

Ventricular late potentials (i.e., low-amplitude, high-frequency waveforms and altered frequency components in the terminal QRS complex) can be detected by signal-averaged surface electrocardiography. Their presence usually indicates areas of fibrous scar tissue in the myocardium, with delayed and fragmented impulse conduction through the border zones surrounding these areas. Signal-averaged electrocardiography has been successfully used in assessing the risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden arrhythmic death after myocardial infarction.1 Sudden cardiac death is also relatively frequent among alcoholics, and life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias are found in alcoholics without heart disease.2 Earlier electrophysiologic studies have shown that patients with alcoholic cardiomyopathy can have localized delays in intraventricular conduction, suggesting nonuniform myocardial involvement.3 To find out whether alcoholics without clinically evident heart disease have intraventricular conduction abnormalities identifiable as ventricular late potentials, we recorded signal-averaged electrocardiograms in a group of male and female alcoholics. © 1993.