Journal
TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE
Volume 101, Issue 11, Pages 1075-1080Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.trstmh.2007.06.007
Keywords
Chagas' disease; stroke; trypanosomiasis; Trypanosoma cruzi; ischemic infarction; Brazil
Ask authors/readers for more resources
American trypanosomiasis, also known as Chagas' disease (CD), is a major public health problem and a frequent cause of chronic cardiomyopathy and stroke in South America. The rote of CD as an independent stroke risk factor is reviewed. Chronic cardiomyopathy can appear 10-30 years after the initial infection and affects about 30% of CD patients. Cardiac arrhythmias, congestive heart failure, apical aneurysm and mural thrombus are potential embolic factors that partially explain the genesis of chagasic stroke. Prevalence of apical aneurysm and mural thrombus in CD stroke patients has been estimated in 37 and 11.7%, respectively. Nevertheless, not all stroke chagasic patients have a severe myocardiopathy. Stroke may also be the first manifestation of CD in patients with mild or undetected systolic dysfunction. The diagnosis of CD may be established after stroke presentation in around 40% of patients. Awareness of stroke risk in chagasic patients is very poor and has been estimated in less than 5%. Chagasic cardiomyopathy is a neglected, frequently unrecognized, source of cardioembolic stroke in South America. Educational and prevention programs should be performed in order to prevent this complication of the chronic form of CD. (C) 2007 Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available