title: [Intracardial autonomous nervous system in a fatal case of acute Chagas disease].
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.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Doenças Infecciosas e Parasitárias da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Brasilia, Uberaba, MG, Brasil.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Almeida-Ribeiro
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Lourenço
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Shikanai-Yasuda
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chapadeiro
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Lopes
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000473:pathology*; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000473:pathology*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*
vernacular_title: Sistema nervoso autônomo intracardíaco em caso humano fatal de doença de Chagas aguda.