Myocardial Injury in Patients With Acute and Subacute Chagas Disease in the Brazilian Amazon Using Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance

BACKGROUND: Chagas disease is a neglected tropical disease that is still considered a global health emergency. In the Amazon region, most of the reports are of acute cases that are associated with oral transmission. This study aimed to evaluate myocardial injury in patients with acute Chagas disease before and after treatment. METHODS AND RESULTS: We evaluated 23 patients with acute Chagas disease in 3 different stages of progression. Group 1 had 12 patients evaluated during the acute phase, at the time of diagnosis, and 1 year after treatment, and Group 2 had 11 patients in the late postacute phase who were evaluated 5.2 years on average after diagnosis and treatment. ECGs with the Selvester score, 24‐hour Holter exam, and cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging were performed. The mean age of the 23 patients was 44.3±18.9 years, and they were mostly men (15/65.24%) from Amazonas state (22/95.6%). In 69.6% (n=16) of the patients, some ECG alterations were found, the most frequent being left anterior fascicular block and ventricular repolarization. In Group 1, the 24‐hour Holter exam showed atrial tachycardia in 3 (25%) patients and ventricular extrasystoles in 2 (16.7%) patients. In Group 2, 1 patient had ventricular extrasystoles. Myocardial injury was observed in 7 patients (58.3%) at the acute phase and in 5 (50%) patients at the 1‐year follow‐up in Group 1 and in 2 (18.2%) patients in Group 2. CONCLUSIONS: This article describes, for the first time, myocardial injury shown by cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in a group of patients with acute Chagas disease and reveals the importance of early detection and follow‐up of the cardiac impairment in these patients.