title: Monitoring the efficacy of specific treatment in chronic Chagas disease by polymerase chain reaction and flow cytometry analysis.
abstract: PCR and FC-ALTA were used to monitor parasite clearance in 54 chronic chagasic patients who had completed therapy with allopurinol (ALLO, n = 31) or itraconazole (ITRA, n = 23) ten years earlier. All patients maintained positive conventional serology. 25 of them showed positive XD (ALLO, n = 11 and ITRA, n = 14) and 29 negative XD (ALLO, n = 20 and ITRA, n = 9). 43 patients were positive by both techniques (ALLO, n = 23 and ITRA, n = 20). Seven of 54 patients were negative by PCR and positive by FC-ALTA and three of 54 were positive by PCR and negative by FC-ALTA. Only one case with both tests negative should be considered cured. Of 29 patients with negative XD, 14 treated ALLO (70 %) and nine with ITRA (77.8 %) showed positive PCR and FC-ALTA. These results do not show differences of efficacy among the drugs, and reinforce the relevance of using sensitive tools such as PCR and FC-ALTA for the follow-up of patients with chronic Chagas disease.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Biología Molecular de Parásitos, Programa de Biología Celular y Molecular, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile. gsanchez@med.uchile.cl
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Coronado
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zulantay
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Apt
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gajardo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Solari
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Venegas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000493:Allopurinol / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002677:Chile; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D017964:Itraconazole / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents; D017964:Itraconazole; D000493:Allopurinol