[Association between left ventricular wall motion abnormalities and ventricular arrhythmia in the indeterminate form of Chagas disease].

INTRODUCTION

Chagas' disease can lead to severe and potentially lethal damage of cardiac function. Thus, the identification of cardiac abnormalities in patients presenting the indeterminate form (IF) can be important for risk stratification. This paper aimed to demonstrate whether IF chagasic patients who presented wall motion abnormalities showed functional and electric disturbances compared to patients with normal echocardiogram and Doppler studies.

METHODS

Thirty eight patients with the IF were studied, including 26 chagasic patients with normal electrocardiographic, radiological and echocardiographic exams and 12 chagasic patients showing segmental wall motion abnormalities in the echocardiographic exam. All the patients were submitted to complete echocardiogram and Doppler study, including tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and Holter 24h monitoring.

RESULTS

Among the variables evaluated, significant differences among the two groups were verified in relation to: the ejection fraction (p ≤ 0.001); left ventricular systolic dimension (p = 0.029); isovolumic contraction time, measured by TDI in the basal segments of the left ventricle (p < 0.05); and the presence of isolated (p = 0.0005) and paired ventricular extrasystoles (p = 0.003), in the Holter monitoring.

CONCLUSIONS

The indeterminate form of Chagas' disease can present cardiac wall motion abnormality, demonstrating functional and electric damage compared to chagasic patients with normal echocardiogram.