[Arterio-mesenteric occlusion of the duodenum in Chagas' disease]. / Oclusao arterio-mesenterica do duodeno na molestia de Chagas.

The authors present eight cases of arterio-mesenteric duodenal ileus diagnosed in the Serviço de Cirurgia de Ribeirão Preto (São Paula--Brasil) among 2.573 surgical interventions of digestive tract performed in 15 years. Seven (87.5%) cases presented positive complement fixation test for Chagas' disease and signs of Chagas' cardiopathy and/or enteropathy. Comparing similar casuist studies published in Brazil, the authors suggest that American Trypanosomiasis must be considered as a contributive factor in the genesis of arterio-mesenteric duodenal ileus in Latin America.

[Thickness of the pyloric muscle in relation to Chagas' disease]. / Espessura do musculo pilórico relaçao com doença de Chagas (relaçao com doença de Chagas

The authors analyzed the thickness of the pyloric muscle of 139 patients with peptic ulcer or gastric cancer. Subtracting the muscular thickness of pylorus measured by a ruler from the thickness estimated by the formula, P.T.=0.0415 X W+2.9, where P.T. represents the thickness of the pyloric muscle in millimeters and W represents the weight of the body in kilograms, they had the deviation from normal, in mm. The muscles with deviations greater than 3 mm were considered hypertrophics. Comparing their material with those of Horwitz et al the authors observed a difference in the group of patients with duodenal ulcer without stenosis in which they obtained 16.5% cases with muscular hypertrophy. Surprisingly, those patients showed positivity of sorologic reactions to Chagas' disease in 83.3% of the cases. These results together with the work of Kunze which demonstrated in 1973 that Chagas' disease may be one of the causative factors of the pyloric muscular hypertrophy, make the authors attribute to the neurological disturbances caused by the American Tripanosomiasis the difference observed.