BACKGROUND Right ventricular (RV) impairment is postulated to be responsible for prominent systemic congestion in Chagas disease. However, occurrence of primary RV dysfunction in Chagas disease remains controversial. We aimed to study RV systolic function in patients with Chagas disease using cardiac magnetic resonance. METHODS AND RESULTS This cross-sectional study included 158 individuals w...

Various investigators agree that the incidence of cholelithiasis is greater in patients with Chagas disease. The most plausible explanation for this is based on the parasympathetic denervation that occurs over the whole digestive tract due to Chagas disease. In order to analyze the occurrence of this alteration, gallbladder neuron counts were performed on cholelithiasis patients with and withou...

The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi infects up to 20 million people in Latin America, and the resulting disease (Chagas' disease) is a leading cause of heart disease and death in young adults in areas endemic for the parasite. The clinical symptoms of Chagas' disease have been attributed to autoimmune reactivity to antigens shared by the parasite and host muscle or neuronal tissue. In the ...

Chagas disease is still a major tropical disease in Latin America, affecting 16 to 18 million people. About 6 million people are infected with the causative organism, Trypanosoma cruzi, in Brazil [1]. However, it often remains for decades in its indeterminate form, symptomless, with tissue injury in about 30% of the cases, which eventually will evolve to serious arrhythmia and sudden death [1]....

International migration has changed the epidemiologic patterns of Chagas disease. Recently, 2 cases of Chagas disease transmitted from Latin American women to their newborns were diagnosed in Geneva, Switzerland. A retrospective study to detect Chagas disease showed a prevalence of 9.7% among 72 Latin American women tested during pregnancy in Switzerland.

Chagas disease is a protozoonoses caused by Trypanosoma cruzi. After chronification, human infection may present with several clinical manifestations, ranging from asymptomatic disease to severe cardiomyopathy. Currently, it is estimated that about 7 million people are infected, of which approximately 30% develop heart disease. Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC) is the main cause of morbidity ...