Stroke history and Chagas disease are independent predictors of silent cerebral microembolism in patients with congestive heart failure.

Background: Chagas disease is endemic in South and Central America, where 18 million individuals are infected by Trypanosoma cruzi, causing congestive heart failure (CHF) and cardioembolic stroke. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) is able to detect real-time microembolic signals (MES) to the brain vessels and may represent a surrogate marker of stroke risk. We aimed to determine predictors of MES in a population of patients with CHF.

Chagas disease is independently associated with brain atrophy.

Chagas disease (CD) remains a major cause of cardiomyopathy and stroke in developing countries. Brain involvement in CD has been attributed to left ventricular dysfunction, resulting in chronic brain ischemia due to hypoperfusion and/or embolic infarcts. However, cognitive impairment in CD may occur independently of cardiac disease.

Cognitive dysfunction in chronic Chagas disease cardiomyopathy.

Unlabelled: Chagas disease (CD) remains a major cause of stroke in developing countries, but cognitive repercussion of CD has not been well studied.

Objective: To compare the frequency and pattern of cognitive dysfunction in patients with CD cardiomyopathy (CDC) and other cardiomyopathies (OC).

Methods: We studied 37 patients with CDC and 42 patients with OC with similar age, educational level and cardiac systolic function.