Anesthesia & Clinical Research
Open Access

Abstract

Cirrhosis-Associated Cardiomyopathy

Ahmed Zaky and John D Lang

Liver cirrhosis is the 12th leading cause of death in the US. The heart is one of the most adversely affected organs in liver cirrhosis. Cirrhosis-induced cardiomyopathy describes the cardiac dysfunction in patients with cirrhosis characterized by impaired contractile response to stress and/or altered diastolic relaxation with electrophysiologic abnormalities in the absence of other known cardiac disease. The current definition of cirrhosis-induced cardiomyopathy does not take into account recent evidence of resting contractile and relaxation dysfunction that can be appreciated by advanced imaging tools such as Doppler tissue imaging and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Cirrhosis-induced cardiomyopathy is caused by cellular as well as physiological mechanisms including but not limited to: beta adrenergic receptor dysfunction, calcium channelopathy, elevated levels of catecholamines, elevated levels of nitric oxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide and stimulation of endogenous cannabinoid pathways capable of producing negative inotropic, relaxation, and electrophysiological defects. Currently there is no specific therapy for cirrhosis-induced cardiomyopathy.