Right ventricular Doppler echocardiographic study of indeterminate form of chagas disease

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Echocardiography
• Chagas Disease Research

Background:

• Patients with indeterminate Chagas disease/cardiac normality (ICD/CN) often present with normal initial cardiac tests.
• Subtle morphological and functional cardiac changes can be detected with advanced imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of right ventricular (RV) systolic and diastolic dysfunction in patients with ICD/CN.
• To investigate early indicators of cardiac compromise in this patient population.

Main Methods:

• A case-control and prevalence study involving 92 patients.
• Doppler two-dimensional echocardiography (2D) was used to assess RV function.
• Patients were categorized into a normal group (n=31) and an ICD/CN group (n=61).

Main Results:

• RV systolic dysfunction, specifically indicated by S-wave tissue Doppler velocity, was found in 26.0% of the ICD/CN group (p=0.016).
• No statistically significant differences in global RV function or diastolic dysfunction were observed between the groups.
• Fractional area change and tricuspid annular motion showed minimal RV systolic dysfunction in the ICD/CN group.

Conclusions:

• A 26% prevalence of RV systolic dysfunction suggests incipient changes in RV function in patients with ICD/CN.
• Echocardiographic parameters, particularly S-wave velocity, can identify early signs of cardiac involvement in ICD/CN.
• Further research is warranted to understand the long-term implications of these findings.