| Abstract: | It is suggested, on the basis of 315 necropsies of patients who died of drunkenness and alcoholism and examination of 300 rats with acute and chronic alcoholic intoxication, to distinguish an "alcoholic disease" as a separate nosological entity. The stages of this disease are drunkenness, alcoholism and alcoholic abstinence syndrome. Multiple organ pathology is characteristic for the disease with obligatory microangiopathy, alcoholic encephalo-, cardiomyo- and hepatopathy. The development of the disease follows a principle of vitium cordis at which the changes in certain organs result in the progression of pathological lesions in other organs. The course of the disease is characterized by periods of remission and exacerbation provoked either by a regular alcohol consumption or by an alcoholic abstinence syndrome. Toxic effects of alcohol, acetaldehyde and catecholamines are main factors in the pathogenesis of lesions in various organs. |
