Assessment of myocardial vasculature in chronic alcoholics without established cardiomyopathy.

Myocardial pathology and cardiac functional abnormalities known to occur in association with chronic alcohol abuse have been attributed to a direct toxic effect of ethanol on the intra-myocardial vasculature: alcohol-induced occlusion of small arteries with consequent secondary ischaemia leads to individual myocyte loss, focal fibrosis and compensatory cardiac hypertrophy. To assess the intra-myocardial arterial vessels an interactive semiautomated, computerised, high-resolution, video image-analysing system was used and the findings from hearts of alcoholics were compared with normal hearts collected at autopsy. The elastic laminae, stained with Van Gieson's stain, acted as the reference points for measurement of the diameters, circumferences and thicknesses of the vessels assessed. It was not possible to demonstrate any statistically significant morphometric changes within intra-myocardial vasculature. The same technique used is readily adaptable for the assessment of the blood vessels in other organs and tissues.