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[Chronic Chagas cardiopathy in patients aged 12 to 15 years]
A L Bittencourt1, F A Roters, H C da Silva
1Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA.
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.