The Volume-Time Curve by Three-Dimensional Echocardiography in Chagas Cardiomyopathy: Insights into the Mechanism of Hemodynamic Adaptations.

Background: Three-dimensional echocardiography (3D ECHO) allows the generation of a volume-time curve representative of changes in the left ventricular (LV) volume throughout the entire cardiac cycle.

Objective: This study aims to demonstrate the hemodynamic adaptations present in Chagas cardiomyopathy (CC) by means of the volume and flow measurements obtained by the volume-time curve by 3D ECHO.

Methods: Twenty patients with CC and 15 healthy subjects were prospectively enrolled in a cross-sectional design study.

Myocardial dysfunction in chagasic patients with no apparent heart disease.

Background: The Tei index simultaneously evaluates the ventricular systolic and diastolic functions. It has a good correlation with hemodynamic data and has enabled the detection of initial ventricular function alterations of different etiologies.

Objective: To study initial biventricular function alterations in chagasic patients with no apparent heart disease, using the Tei index.