Alcohol concentration determines the type of atrial arrhythmia induced in a porcine model of acute alcoholic intoxication.

Alcohol abuse has long been suspected clinically to cause paroxysmal atrial tachyarrhythmias. However, such a relationship has never been conclusively proven, partly due to the lack of experimental evidence. Although atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common atrial arrhythmia attributed to acute alcoholic ingestion, atrial flutter has occasionally been noted. We analyzed the possible role of alcohol in initiation and/or maintenance of a variety of atrial tachyarrhythmias in a closed-chest porcine model. Nine pigs underwent nine endocardial right atrial stimulation protocols (RASP) at baseline and 17 RASPs after increasing doses of ethanol (first infusion 1,230 mg/kg, second infusion 870 mg/kg) by means of one multipolar catheter advanced under heavy sedation from the femoral vein. Each RASP included 1, 2, and 3 extrastimuli, and rapid pacing at 5 times diastolic threshold. Venous ethanol concentrations were measured (HPGC method) every 10 minutes and at the time of arrhythmia induction. Atrial tachyarrhythmias were induced in 4 of 9 baseline RASPs, and lasted for a mean of 21 seconds, and in 16 of 17 RASPs after alcohol lasting for a mean of 357 seconds. Only fibrillation was observed at the baseline RASP. The atrial tachyarrhythmias induced after alcohol were AF in 11 RASPs and atrial flutter in 5 RASPs (in 5 animals). The mean venous ethanol concentration at the time of the longest arrhythmia induced for each RASP were 200 +/- 89 mg/dL for RASP inducing fibrillation and 292 +/- 40 mg/dL for RASP inducing flutter (P < 0.05). Flutter tended to be sustained (> 1 minute in duration) more often than fibrillation (4 of 5 flutter vs 2 of 11 fibrillation P < 0.05). In three experiments, atrial flutter persisted for > 10 minutes and was terminated by overdrive atrial pacing. We concluded: (1) in this closed-chest porcine model, an ethanol infusion facilitates a variety of atrial arrhythmias related to the ethanol concentration; (2) flutter tended to be sustained, and its termination by overdrive pacing suggests the possibility of an alcohol induced reentrant mechanism; and (3) the higher concentration required for atrial flutter, exceeding that usually seen in humans, may help to explain the rarity of atrial flutter in clinical alcohol intoxication.