title: Hemocultures from chronic Chagasic patients using EDTA or heparin as anticoagulants.
abstract: Hemoculture tests, a method for the detection of Trypanosoma cruzi, were used to investigate the effects of the anticoagulants heparin or EDTA on the parasite growth in culture medium (liver infusion tryptose, LIT). Hemocultures from 13 patients with positive serology for chronic Chagas' disease performed in parallel with both anticoagulants resulted in a total of seven (54%) positive hemocultures, three positive with blood samples collected with EDTA (23%), two with heparin (15%) and two with both anticoagulants (15%). There was no significant difference between the number of positive tubes in blood samples collected with either heparin (11%) or with EDTA (13%), an indication that heparin does not block the growth of T. cruzi. However, the simultaneous use of both anticoagulants may improve the positivity index of the hemocultures.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Galvão
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Cançado
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Rezende
authors.forename: A U
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Krettli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001769:Blood / Q000469:parasitology*; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000469:parasitology*; D003470:Culture Media; D004492:Edetic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006493:Heparin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D006493:Heparin; D004492:Edetic Acid