Diffuse Myocardial Fibrosis and Cardiomyocyte Diameter Are Associated With Heart Failure Symptoms in Chagas Cardiomyopathy.

Background: Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC) constitutes the most life-threatening consequence of the infection. Our goal was to test in CCC the associations of the myocardial tissue phenotype with cardiac dysfunction, and heart failure (HF) severity, using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR).

Methods: We performed a prospective observational cohort of patients with consecutive CCC with a CMR protocol, including ventricular function, myocardial T1, and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE).