Left atrial and left ventricular diastolic function in chronic Chagas disease.

Background: Left atrial (LA) and left ventricular (LV) diastolic function analysis can yield new strategies to recognize early cardiac involvement and prognostic indicators in Chagas disease.

Methods: Patients with Chagas disease with the indeterminate (n = 69) or with the cardiac form (32 with changes limited to electrocardiography [stage A], 25 with changes in LV systolic function but no heart failure [HF; stage B], and 26 with HF) underwent evaluation of LV diastolic function (mitral inflow, pulmonary vein flow, color M-mode echocardiography, and tissue Doppler analysis), and LA function by three-dimensional echocardiography and strain analysis and were prospectively followed for the occurrence of clinical events. Echocardiograms were also obtained from 32 controls.

Austin Flint murmur re-visited.

Austin Flint murmur is a mid-diastolic rumbling audible in subjects with severe aortic regurgitation. Several theories have been raised to explain mechanistically the nature of this particular phenomenon. We briefly review severe aortic regurgitation under the light of contemporary echocardiography in an illustrative case.