[The biopsy in the diagnosis of pericardial involvement by malignant tumor]. / A biopsia no diagnóstico do comprometimento pericárdico por tumores malignos.

We performed pericardial biopsy by subxiphoid approach in twelve patients (eight men, four women) with cardiac tamponade or pericardial effusion without low cardiac output, in order to search for the underlying disease. Five patients (41%) had pericardial biopsy with malignant neoplastic invasion. In seven patients (59%) the biopsy was nonspecific; in these patients, the diagnosis was made by another methods. We concluded that the pericardial biopsy is a safe method, with high especificity but low sensibility in the diagnosis of malignant pericardial invasion.

[Cardiac thrombosis and embolism in patients having died of chronic Chagas cardiopathy]. / Trombose cardíaca e embolia em pacientes falecidos de cardiopatia chagásica crônica.

The authors studied the files of 111 patients (mean age 47.5 years) with chronic Chagas' disease and severe heart failure who had died between 1978 and 1984; they were 72 men and 39 women. Eighty-one patients (73%) had cardiac thrombosis, 65 times (53%) in right chambers and 56 times (46%) in left ones. Sixty-seven patients (60%) had thromboembolic episodes, 41 (65%) to the lungs, 23 (38%) to other organs (target organs: the kidneys in 21 cases, spleen in four, brain in two, abdominal aorta in one, mesenteric artery in one and iliac artery in one). Right chamber thrombosis occurred 65 times, 35 (53%) with pulmonary thromboembolism. Left chamber thrombosis occurred 56 times, 24 (42%) with systemic thromboembolism. A total of 41 patients had pulmonary thromboembolism, only six (14%) without right chamber thrombosis; of 26 patients with systemic thromboembolism, only two (7%) did not have left chamber thrombosis. The authors concluded that the incidence of thrombosis and thromboembolism was high in the group studied, and that there was a relationship between chamber thrombosis and systemic or pulmonary thromboembolism.

[Comparison of histologic changes in Chagas' cardiomyopathy and dilated cardiomyopathy]. / Comparação entre alterações histológicas da miocardiopatia da doença de Chagas e cardiomiopatia dilatada.

In this study the histopathologic features of Chagas' disease and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy were compared in 38 patients with congestive heart failure, classes II or III. Biopsy specimens were obtained with the Stanford model needle for right ventricle. Twenty-two patients presented non-chagasic dilated cardiomyopathy, and 16 were carriers of Chagas' disease. Twenty-three were male and 15 were female; their ages varied 18 and 49 years (mean 35.5). Fibrosis was slightly more frequently and intense in Chagas' disease than in dilated cardiomyopathy. Myocarditis aspect also was more frequent in Chagas' disease than in dilated cardiomyopathy (62.4% vs. 50%), with all cases showing a chronic form; acute myocarditis was observed only in dilated myocardiopathy. These differences, however, did not reach statistical significance. In conclusion, the presence of fibrosis, hypertrophy and moderate to severe degrees of chronic inflammatory infiltrate are suggestive of but not pathognomonic of Chagas' disease. On the other hand, dilated myocardiopathies are more frequently associated with less fibrosis or hypertrophy and the presence of mild degree of inflammatory infiltrate. The arrangement of this inflammatory infiltrate tends to be diffuse in dilated cardiomyopathy and in chagasic myocarditis it is multifocal, very similar to the histopathological aspect found in myocardial rejections episodes of transplanted hearts.

[The value of the electrocardiogram in evaluating myocardial function in patients with Chagas' disease]. / O valor do eletrocardiograma na avaliação da função miocárdica dos portadores de doença de Chagas.

The authors studied the electrocardiogram of 1004 patients with Chagas' disease. The fit of this observation was the correlation between the electrocardiographic alterations with the cardiac compromise, which was analysed clinically, by thorax X-ray, echocardiogram and stress test. The results show that increased cardiothoracic index, and decreased ejection fraction, decreased difference between systolic blood pressure before the exercise and at the final of the stress test at maximal weight were associated with greater incidence of ventricular premature beat, intraventricular heart block, inactive area, ST-T alteration. chi 2 test shows that these association was significative. The presence of premature ventricular beats and inactive area on the electrocardiographic study seems to determine worse prognosis to the patients since these alterations were more frequent on the patients that died due to Chagas' disease.

Right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy in chronic Chagas' disease.

Right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy was used to study myocardial involvement in 42 patients with chronic Chagas' disease. Patients were divided into three groups: group A included 16 patients with normal ECGs, normal chest x-rays, and no symptoms; group B included 15 patients with abnormal ECGs and no cardiomegaly; and group C included 11 patients with abnormal ECGs and cardiomegaly. Biopsy fragments were analyzed for hypertrophy, degeneration of myocardial fibers, and interstitial changes such as edema, fibrosis, and inflammatory infiltrate. In group A, 5 of 16 biopsies exhibited none of the previously mentioned alterations. The frequencies pathologic alterations in groups A, B, and C, respectively, were: hypertrophy 31%, 66%, and 100%; degeneration 50%, 86%, and 81%; edema 43%, 46%, and 36%; fibrosis 12%, 33%, and 54%; and inflammatory infiltrate 37%, 66%, and 65%. These data suggest that myocardial lesions of Chagas' disease represent a continuous progression from fiber destruction to substitution by fibrosis, with compensatory hypertrophy; these data also suggest that cardiac dilatation occurs when the extent of fibrosis no longer allows for efficient compensatory hypertrophy.