title: The role of storage of interstitial myocardial collagen on the overlife rate of patients with idiopathic and Chagasic dilated cardiomyopathy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To find out whether there is a correlation between a myocardial structural marker and the overlife rate of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using endomyocardial biopsy and 2D-echocardiogram, we studied nine patients with no changes in myocardial structure (control) and 45 patients with severe dilated cardiomyopathy of idiopathic etiology (IDCM) and of Chagasic etiology (CDCM). We analyzed the correlation between the quantity of interstitial myocardial collagen (ICVF) and the overlife rates of these patients. We also evaluated the difference in ICVF between these groups and whether fibrosis interfered on the geometry and function of the myocardium.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed that ICVF was 15 times higher in cardiomyopathy patients than in the control group, but there was no difference in ICVF between CDCM and IDCM (*p < 0.001) patients. There was no correlation between ICVF and the overlife rate in cardiomyopathy patients (IDCM p = 0.249, and CDCM p = 0.587). We observed a significant correlation between ICVF and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) only for IDCM. There was no correlation between ICVF and left ventricular diastolic diameter in either etiology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was no difference in myocardial fibrosis between patients with CDCM or IDCM, and there was no correlation between fibrosis and the prognosis either for IDCM or CDCM. There was a correlation between myocardial fibrosis and LVEF only for IDCM.
authors.affiliation: Instituto do Coração, Hospital das Clínicas, FM, USP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Vera Lopes
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: Felix José Alvarez
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Ramires
authors.forename: Walace de Souza
authors.initials: Wde S
authors.lastname: Pimentel
authors.forename: Fábio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: Barbara Maria
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Ianni
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mady
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D001706:Biopsy; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D003094:Collagen / Q000032:analysis*; D004452:Echocardiography; D004719:Endomyocardial Fibrosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D003094:Collagen