title: [Radiological study on megacolon cases in an endemic area for Chagas disease].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A radiological study on the colon of patients from an endemic Chagas disease zone was conducted using the simplified opaque enema technique of Ximenes et al.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study involved 291 individuals with a mean age of 48.8 ± 12.5 years-old, of whom 222 were seropositive for Chagas disease. Anteroposterior, posteroanterior and left lateral view radiographs were analyzed by visual inspection and measurement of the largest rectal and sigmoid diameters.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From the visual inspection, megacolon was diagnosed in 14 (6.3%) Chagas disease patients. The mean diameter of the rectal ampulla among the Chagas patients was 6.3 ± 1.0 cm, similar to the measurement in non-Chagas individuals: 6.2 ± 1.0 cm (p= 0.391). The mean sigmoid loop diameter in the Chagas patients was 5 ± 1.6 cm, which was larger than among the non-Chagas individuals: 4.4 ± 0.8 cm (p= 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  excluding the evident and probable megacolon cases, the Chagas disease population continued to present a significantly larger mean sigmoid diameter than that observed among non-Chagas individuals (p= 0.003).
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina Tropical, Núcleo de Medicina Tropical, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF. tropical@unb.br
authors.forename: Cleudson
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: Esperanza Bernal
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.forename: Joffre
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rezende
authors.forename: Aluizio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Prata
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008531:Megacolon / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011859:Radiography