Cerebral infarction in autopsies of chagasic patients with heart failure.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the frequency of encephalic infarction and its contribution to lethality in patients with Chagas' disease and heart failure.


METHODS
Medical records and autopsy reports of patients with Chagas' disease complicated by heart failure, who died at the Professor Edgar Santos Hospital of the Federal University of Bahia in the past 45 years were retrospectively analyzed. Data comprised information regarding the clinical history on hospital admission, complementary and anatomicopathological examinations, including the presence of encephalic infarction, the impaired region, and the cause of death.


RESULTS
Of the 5,447 autopsies performed, 524 were in patients with heart failure due to Chagas' disease. The mean age was 45.7 years, and 51 (63%) patients were of the male sex. The frequency of encephalic infarction was 17.5%, corresponding to 92 events in 92 individuals, 82 (15.8%) of which involved the brain, 8 (1.5%) involved the cerebellum, and 2 (0.4%) involved the hypophysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Cerebral infarction has been a frequent finding in autopsies of chagasic patients with heart failure, and it has been an important cause of death in our region. The presence of cerebral infarction and its complications have been associated with death in 52% of the cases studied.
Aras
Roque
R
Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil. raras@ufba.br
da Matta
José Alberto M
JA
Mota
Gildo
G
Gomes
Irênio
I
Melo
Ailton
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002423:Cause of Death; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors