Stress Testing and Working Capacity in Chagas’ Cardiomyopathy

Abstract

The EKG response to exercise and the working capacity in a group of 70 patients with positive serology for Chagas’ disease has been determined by stress testing on a bicycle-ergometer, in order to establish the usefulness of such a test in the early diagnosis of Chagas’ cardiomyopathy. The exercise EKG provides information which cannot be obtained by other diagnostic procedures, since the stress test can induce or increase ventricular arrhythmia, and is particularly indicated in patients with Chagas’ infection and the incipient forms of Chagas’ cardiomyopathy. Measuring the working capacity is useful in order to establish the degree of functional impairment of each individual patient. After the application of oral digoxin, no significant increase of ventricular extrasystoles following exercise has been observed and the working capacity has improved in the majority of the studied cases with Chagas’ cardiomyopathy.

Prognostic Value of Exercise‐Induced Ventricular Arrhythmia in Chagas’ Heart Disease

“…The small number of patients assessed in several studies, the heterogeneity between these populations, and the different techniques employed for exercise testing and definitions of EIVA, certainly contributed to the great variability in prevalence estimates 11,13,14,16,17,23,28,30–33 …”

Exercise testing in the latent phase of chagas' disease

“…Arrhythmias are a common and characteristic finding in the chronic phase of Chag~' disease (Chagas and Villela, 1922). Hirschhaut and Aparicio (1978) found a high incidence of arrhythmias among patients with positive serologic tests for Chagas' disease at rest (33 %) and during exercise (52%). Most of these patients, however, had resting electrocardiographic abnonnalities commonly found in the chronic fonn of the disease.…”