[Chronic Chagas cardiopathy in patients aged 12 to 15 years].

PURPOSE

A comparison between pathological features of chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCC) in adolescents and adults.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Adolescents under the age of 15, with amastigote trypanosomal forms in the myocardium, a positive xenodiagnosis and/or serology for trypanosoma cruzi infection, were selected from 4.583 necropsies performed between 1958-86 at the Professor Edgard Santos Hospital in Bahia, Brazil.

RESULTS

Nine CCC cases between the ages of 12 and 15 years were identified. Mean heart weight was under twice normal. Intracardiac thrombi were present in five (55.6%), apical left ventricle aneurysm in four (44.4%) and parasites in the myocardium in three (33.3%) cases. Systemic or pulmonary thromboembolism was found in six (66.7%) patients. Mitral regurgitation was present in six (66.7%) cases, two with valvar anatomic alterations.

CONCLUSION

Pathological features of CCC in adolescents did not differ from those found in adult patients.