Abstract
Introduction: Chagas disease is one of the main diseases in Latin
America and heart involvement is its main characteristics, and the main
cause of death. The aim of this study is to evaluate if there is any
parameter of Doppler Tissue Imaging (DTI) which can be used as a
predictor for later events in chronic Chagas disease. Methods: we
analyses DTI variables of 543 patients with chronic Chagas disease for
the evaluation of predicting factors of events. Major adverse
cardiovascular events (MACE) were considered as stroke, heart failure
resistant to treatment, sustained ventricular tachycardia, implantable
cardioverter-defibrillator, sudden death, and cardiovascular death. The
following findings were also included in total evens: heart failure,
bradycardia, ventricular arrhythmia, new conduction system abnormalities
and new echocardiographic abnormalities. Multivariate analysis with
logistic regression was used in order to assess the Doppler and DTI
parameters predicting events. Variables with a p-value ≤ 0.10 in the
univariate analysis were included in the multivariate analysis. Results:
In patients with chronic Chagas disease, the analysis of DTI parameters
showed that S’ wave and E’ wave of the lateral wall of the left
ventricle were significant predictors of MACE (OR: 0.83; 95% CI:
0.71-0.96; p value: 0.015 and OR: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.66-0.98; p value:
0.031, respectively). Conclusions: This study found that patients with
chronic Chagas disease who had events showed significantly lower
parameters in the DTI. What is more, this study showed that even lower
DTI parameters are significant predictors of events.