Tissue Doppler imaging in the evaluation of the regional diastolic function in chagas' disease.
OBJECTIVE
The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the regional diastolic function in Chagas' disease using tissue Doppler imaging (TDI).


RESULTS
Seventy-seven patients were evaluated and divided into three groups: group 0, control; group 1, chagasic patients with normal ECG; and group 2, chagasic patients with abnormal ECG. The following parameters were evaluated: E and A waves, E/A ratio, deceleration time and the isovolumic relaxation time by pulsed wave Doppler and analysis of early (e') and late (a') filling waves by means of TDI, in basal segment of the septal, anterior, inferior, posterior and lateral walls of the left ventricle. The only index of the transmitral flow that presented a significant difference between the chagasic patients and the controls was the deceleration time. As regards the TDI, a significant difference occurred between the various groups in relation to the e' wave, especially in the septal, inferior and posterior walls of the left ventricle.


CONCLUSIONS
TDI proved itself a more sensitive technique for the study of the diastolic function in Chagas' disease than conventional Doppler echocardiography, bringing to light regional abnormalities and allowing differentiation between normal and chagasic individuals with or without cardiomyopathy. TDI could be potentially useful in clinical work and in the stratification of risk of these patients.
Vinicius Lins Barros
M
M
Ecoar, Medicina Diagnóstica.
Otávio Da Costa Rocha
M
M
Luiz Pinho Ribeiro
A
A
Santana Machado
F
F
D000328:Adult; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003971:Diastole / Q000502:physiology*; D018619:Echocardiography, Doppler, Pulsed; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement; D007843:Latin America / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014636:Valsalva Maneuver / Q000502:physiology; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology