RESUMO
Background: Cirrhosis is associated with numerous cardiac abnormalities; however scanty information is available about the changes associated with it in Indian diaspora. which include increased cardiac output, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, increased wall thickness of cardiac chambers, and pulmonary arterial hypertension. These concomitant cardiac abnormalities in patients with cirrhosis have been termed as ‘Cirrhotic Cardiomyopathy’. Objective of this study assess the Echocardiographic Changes among Chronic Liver disease in a tertiary care center. Method: Thirty patients with cirrhosis (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) were enrolled for the study at Department of Gastroenterology, Command Hospital, Air force, Bangalore from October 2007 to June 2009. Thirty age and sex matched controls without cardiovascular disease were included for comparison. Data collection was done by clinical history, examination and investigations. All subjects underwent Echocardiographic study was at 6 and 12 months and controls at the start of study.Results: Mean age of the study population was 54.5±15 yrs, males constituted 93% of the study population. Majority of the patients were in Child class B (43.3%) and Child A (40%). Interventricular septal thickness showed significant change compared to Control. There was no evidence of systolic dysfunction noted in the study population. There was no correlation between severity of cirrhosis and echocardiographic Changes.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that Indian patients with cirrhosis do have diastolic dysfunction. In the absence of other risk factors for cardiac disease, this dysfunction can be attributed only to cirrhotic cardiomyopathy. There is no correlation of cardiac status with severity of liver dysfunction.