Disfunción cardiocirculatoria en pacientes con cirrosis hepática Cardiocirculatory dysfunction in patients with liver cirrhosis

Introduction: the presence of cardiac disturbances in cirrhotic patients has received special attention in these last years. Objective: to determine the electrocardiographic and echocardiographic disturbances in patients with cirrhosis of the liver attending the Hepatology Doctors Office in the University Hospital "Dr. Antonio Luaces Iraola", as well as its association with the etiology and the prognosis Child-Pugh scoring system. Method: a cross-sectional observational analytic study was conducted, from May 2012 to May 2014. The universe included 31 patients. All the patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Results: most of the patients were male and were in the "A" stage of the Child-Pugh score. Alcoholism was the most frequent cause of liver cirrhosis. Most of the patients had diastolic dysfunction, but there was not statistically significant relationship among its severity, the Child- Pugh stage and the etiology. Conclusions: the diastolic diameter of the left ventricle showed statistically significant relationship with the etiology of liver cirrhosis; the diameter of the left atrium, systolic and mean pulmonary artery were statistically related to the Child-Pugh stage. Left atrium enlargement and left ventricle hypertrophy were the most frequent electrocardiographic findings, although no statistical association was observed between them and the etiology of the Child-Pugh stage. Keywords: CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER, CIRRHOTIC CARDIOMYOPATHY/pathophysiology, CIRRHOTIC CARDIOMYOPATHY/etiology.