[Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy detected in patients at the Regional General Hospital O'Horan, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico].

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of cardiopathy due to Chagas' disease in 36 patients of the cardiology department at the Regional General Hospital O'Horan in Merida, Yucatan. All patients included in the study had cardiac involvement compatible with acute or chronic stages of Chagas' disease. Medical records prepared for each one of the patients included a Chagas' disease targeted clinical history, chest X-ray, electrocardiogram, blood culture and serology using indirect immunofluorescence test. Out of the 36 patients studied, 7 were diagnosed as having Chagas' disease cardiopathy. Grade II cardiomegaly was established in 2 patients while the remaining 5 had grade III cardiomegaly. Conduction abnormalities were established in 6 patients while 2 of these had evidence of necrosis and/or ischemia. Chagas' disease cardiopathy, as our results suggest, is not a rare event in the cardiology ward at the O'Horan Hospital.