cardiovascular-agents and Chagas-Cardiomyopathy

Chagas cardiomyopathy is an emerging form of non-ischemic cardiomyopathy in the USA. This review aims to summarize current concepts in pathophysiology, disease transmission, medical therapy, and heart transplantation for patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy.. The incidence of Chagas cardiomyopathy is increasing in the USA, driven mainly by immigration from countries where Chagas disease is endemic. Chagas cardiomyopathy is a chronic, progressive myocarditis, with hallmark features of biventricular dysfunction, ventricular arrhythmias, thromboembolic complications, and a high risk of mortality. Currently, there is no effective treatment for chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy. Heart transplantation is the only treatment for patients with end-stage Chagas cardiomyopathy, but is associated with unique challenges including risk of reactivation. As the prevalence of Chagas cardiomyopathy increases in the USA, practitioners must be aware of the unique challenges in diagnosis and management that Chagas cardiomyopathy presents.

Topics: Cardiovascular Agents; Chagas Cardiomyopathy; Chagas Disease; Heart Transplantation; Humans; Myocarditis; Risk Factors; Treatment Outcome; Trypanocidal Agents; Trypanosoma cruzi; United States

Chagas disease results from infection by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and is endemic in Latin America. T cruzi is most commonly transmitted through the feces of an infected triatomine, but can also be congenital, via contaminated blood transfusion or through direct oral contact. In the acute phase, the disease can cause cardiac derangements such as myocarditis, conduction system abnormalities, and/or pericarditis. If left untreated, the disease advances to the chronic phase. Up to one-half of these patients will develop a cardiomyopathy, which can lead to cardiac failure and/or ventricular arrhythmias, both of which are major causes of mortality. Diagnosis is confirmed by serologic testing for specific immunoglobulin G antibodies. Initial treatment consists of the antiparasitic agents benznidazole and nifurtimox. The treatment of Chagas cardiac disease comprises standard medical therapy for heart failure and amiodarone for ventricular arrhythmias, with consideration for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. Chagas disease causes the highest infectious burden of any parasitic disease in the Western Hemisphere, and increased awareness of this disease is essential to improve diagnosis, enhance management, and reduce spread.

Topics: Antiparasitic Agents; Cardiovascular Agents; Chagas Cardiomyopathy; Defibrillators, Implantable; Electric Countershock; Humans; Predictive Value of Tests; Risk Factors; Treatment Outcome

Pharmaceutical care is the direct interaction between pharmacist and patient, in order to improve therapeutic compliance, promote adequate pharmacotherapeutic follow-up, and improve quality of life. Pharmaceutical care may be effective in reducing complications and in improving the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases, like Chagas heart disease, while bringing a positive impact on health system costs. The morbidity and mortality indexes for patients with Chagas heart disease are high, especially if this heart disease is complicated by heart failure. In this setting, we hypothesize that pharmaceutical care might be an important tool for the clinical management of these patients by improving their quality of life, as a better compliance to their treatment and the avoidance and prompt correction of drug-related problems will minimize their symptoms, improve their functional class, and decrease the number of hospital admissions. Therefore, the aim of this trial is to evaluate the contribution of pharmaceutical care to clinical treatment of patients with Chagas heart disease complicated by heart failure.. A prospective, single-center randomized clinical trial will be conducted in patients with Chagas heart disease complicated by heart failure. A total of 88 patients will be randomly assigned into two parallel groups: an intervention group will receive standard care and pharmaceutical care, and a control group will receive only standard care. Both groups will be subjected to a follow-up period of 12 months. The primary outcome of this trial is the evaluation of quality of life, measured by the 36-item short-form and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire. Secondary outcomes include drug-related problems, exercise tolerance as measured by the standard six-minute-walk test, and compliance.. Patients with Chagas heart disease complicated by heart failure under pharmaceutical care are expected to improve their quality of life, present with a lower incidence of drug-related problems, improve their functional capacity, and improve in their compliance to treatment.. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01566617.

Topics: Brazil; Cardiovascular Agents; Chagas Cardiomyopathy; Clinical Protocols; Community Pharmacy Services; Double-Blind Method; Exercise Test; Exercise Tolerance; Heart Failure; Humans; Medication Adherence; Prospective Studies; Quality of Life; Research Design; Surveys and Questionnaires; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome

In addition to the long-established role in erythropoiesis, erythropoietin (Epo) has protective functions in a variety of tissues, including the heart. This is the most affected organ in chronic Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Despite seven million people being infected with T. cruzi worldwide, there is no effective treatment preventing the disease progression to the chronic phase when the pathological involvement of the heart is often observed. Chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy has a wide variety of manifestations, like left ventricular systolic dysfunction, dilated cardiomyopathy, and heart failure. Since Epo may help maintain cardiac function by reducing myocardial necrosis, inflammation, and fibrosis, this study aimed to evaluate whether the Epo has positive effects on experimental Chagas disease. For that, we assessed the earlier (acute phase) and also the later (chronic phase) use of Epo in infected C57BL/6 mice. Blood cell count, biochemical parameters, parasitic load, and echocardiography data were evaluated. In addition, histopathological analysis was carried out. Our data showed that Epo had no trypanocide effect nor did it modify the production of anti-T. cruzi antibodies. Epo-treated groups exhibited parasitic burden much lower in the heart compared to blood. No pattern of hematological changes was observed combining infection with treatment with Epo. Chronic Epo administration reduced CK-MB serum activity from d0 to d180, irrespectively of T. cruzi infection. Likewise, echocardiography and histological results indicate that Epo treatment is more effective in the chronic phase of experimental Chagas disease. Since treatment is one of the greatest challenges of Chagas disease, alternative therapies should be investigated, including Epo combined with benznidazole.

Topics: Animals; Cardiovascular Agents; Chagas Cardiomyopathy; Chagas Disease; Disease Models, Animal; Erythropoietin; Humans; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Parasite Load; Trypanosoma cruzi

Chagas' disease is an important cause of cardiomyopathy in Latin America. We aimed to compare clinical characteristics and outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction caused by Chagas' disease, with other etiologies, in the era of modern HF therapies.. This study included 2552 Latin American patients randomized in the PARADIGM-HF (Prospective Comparison of ARNI With ACEI to Determine Impact on Global Mortality and Morbidity in Heart Failure) and ATMOSPHERE (Aliskiren Trial to Minimize Outcomes in Patients With Heart Failure) trials. The investigator-reported etiology was categorized as Chagasic, other nonischemic, or ischemic cardiomyopathy. The outcomes of interest included the composite of cardiovascular death or HF hospitalization and its components and death from any cause. Unadjusted and adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were performed to compare outcomes by pathogenesis. There were 195 patients with Chagasic HF with reduced ejection fraction, 1300 with other nonischemic cardiomyopathy, and 1057 with ischemic cardiomyopathy. Compared with other etiologies, Chagasic patients were more often female, younger, and had lower prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and renal impairment (but had higher prevalence of stroke and pacemaker implantation) and had worse health-related quality of life. The rates of the composite outcome were 17.2, 12.5, and 11.4 per 100 person-years for Chagasic, other nonischemic, and ischemic patients, respectively-adjusted hazard ratio for Chagasic versus other nonischemic: 1.49 (95% confidence interval, 1.15-1.94;. Despite younger age, less comorbidity, and comprehensive use of conventional HF therapies, patients with Chagasic HF with reduced ejection fraction continue to have worse quality of life and higher hospitalization and mortality rates compared with other etiologies.. PARADIGM-HF: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01035255; ATMOSPHERE: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00853658.

Topics: Aged; Amides; Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; Cardiovascular Agents; Chagas Cardiomyopathy; Female; Fumarates; Heart Failure; Hospitalization; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Latin America; Male; Middle Aged; Multicenter Studies as Topic; Quality of Life; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Risk Factors; Stroke Volume; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Ventricular Function, Left

Chronic cardiomyopathy is the most important clinical form of Chagas disease, and it is characterised by myocarditis that is associated with fibrosis and organ dysfunction. Alternative treatment options are important tools to modulate host immune responses. The main goal of this work was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory actions of melatonin during the chronic phase of Chagas disease. TNF-α, IL-10 and nitrite concentrations were evaluated as predictive factors of immune modulation. Creatine phosphokinase-MB (CK-MB), cardiac inflammatory foci and heart weight were assessed to evaluate the efficacy of the melatonin treatment. Male Wistar rats were infected with 1×10(5) blood trypomastigotes of the Y strain of Trypanosoma cruzi and kept untreated for 60 days to mimic chronic infection. After this period, the rats were orally treated with melatonin 50mg/kg/day, and the experiments were performed 90, 120, and 180 days post-infection. Melatonin treatment significantly increased the concentration of IL-10 and reduced the concentrations of NO and TNF-α produced by cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, it led to decreased heart weight, serum CK-MB levels and inflammatory foci when compared to the untreated and infected control groups. We conclude that melatonin therapy is effective at protecting animals against the harmful cardiac inflammatory response that is characteristic of chronic T. cruzi infection.

Topics: Administration, Oral; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Cardiovascular Agents; Chagas Cardiomyopathy; Cytokines; Male; Melatonin; Myocardium; Nitric Oxide; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Treatment Outcome; Trypanosoma cruzi

Heart failure is a complex syndrome with multiple risk factors involved in its genesis, making its prevention and management difficult to achieve.. To identify the main etiologies and risk factors in heart failure; to compare clinical and demographic characteristics of patients according to the etiology; analyze whether the treatment is according to that recommended by the Brazilian guidelines.. Retrospective, descriptive and observational study, carried out at Hospital das Clínicas of Universidade Federal de Goiás. The patients were divided in four groups, according to the etiology, for comparison: chagasic cardiomyopathy, hypertensive cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy and others, ischemic cardiomyopathy. The Chi-square and Fisher's Exact tests, ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used in the analysis of the groups and types of treatment.. A total of 144 patients' files were analyzed; the patients' mean age was 61 ± 15 years and 54.2% of them were males. Chagasic cardiomyopathy was the main etiology (41%). Arterial hypertension (48.6%), anemia (22.9%), coronary disease (19.4%), dyslipidemia (17.3%) and diabetes (16.6%) were the main risk factors. There was a higher prevalence of female individuals among the hypertensive patients (p=0.044) as well as a higher frequency of pulmonary rales (p < 0.01). Heart rate was lower among chagasic patients (p < 0.001). The most often prescribed medications were diuretics (81.2%), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin-receptor blockers (77.7%), beta-blockers (45.8%), spironolactone (35.4%), digitalis (30.5%) and vasodilators (8.3%).. Chagasic cardiomyopathy was the main cause of heart failure. No significant clinical differences were observed among patients from the four etiologic groups.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Brazil; Cardiovascular Agents; Chagas Cardiomyopathy; Epidemiologic Methods; Female; Guideline Adherence; Heart Failure; Hospitals, Public; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Risk Factors; Young Adult