[Intracardial autonomous nervous system in a fatal case of acute Chagas disease]

Rev Soc Bras Med Trop. 1993 Jan-Mar;26(1):35-8. doi: 10.1590/s0037-86821993000100007.
[Article in Portuguese]

Abstract

An analysis of the intracardiac autonomic nervous system (ICANS) has been made in 150 histological sections obtained from atrial fragments of a 74 year-old man who died of cardiac failure, as a consequence of acute Chagas' disease (ACD), probably acquired via digestive tract. Small quantities of mononuclear infiltrate around ganglia and/or nerve branches without significant morphologic alterations of the neurons were found in 10 slides; another slide showed ganglionitis and periganglionitis of moderate intensity associated to neuronal alterations. Focal epicarditis, usually of slight degree, was observed in all slides. The findings suggest: a) that the inflammation of ganglia and fibers of the ICANS in the ACD occurs at least in part by expansion from adjacent epicarditis; b) that even in the fatal cases of the trypanosomiasis cruzi the pathologic lesions of the ICANS may be slight.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Acute Disease
  • Aged
  • Autonomic Nervous System / pathology*
  • Chagas Cardiomyopathy / pathology*
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Heart / innervation*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Myocardium / pathology*