Clinical and Electrophysiological Correlations in Patients with and without Chagas Disease Who Have Sustained Ventricular Tachycardia

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Abstract

We evaluated 49 patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT), 34 males and 15 females, mean age 58 years, in order to determine if there were differences or similarities between a group of patients with Chagas' disease (group I, 24 patients) and another group with other etiologies (group II, 25 patients). The variables considered were age, VI inducible or not during programmed ventricular' stimulation (PVS), number of PVS, cicle length (CL) of the VI, number of antiarrhythmic drugs (AD) tested, effective AD, proarrhythmia (PA), surgical treatment, and left ventricular ejection fraction (EF), determined by echo, gamma camera or cardiac cath. The PVS was performed though the right ventricular (RV) apex with a protocol of 8 beats and then introducing one, two and three extrastimuli until VI was induced or the ERP of the RV was found. The procedure was repeated at different CL of pacing. Several AD were tested in subsequent days using the same protocol. Results: VI was induced in 18 patients of group I (75 %) and 23 patients of group 11(92 %). The number of PVS was the same in both groups: 85 vs 84, as well as the CL of the VI: 183 ± 40 vs 201 ± 55 msec. The number of tested AD was 49 vs 55 and effective AD 19/24 patients (79 %) in group I vs 18/25 patients (72 %) in group II. The incidence of P A was 8/24 patients (33 %) vs 8/25 patients (32 %), surgical treatment 3/24 patients (12 %) vs 2/25 patients (8 %). An EF of less than 30% was found in 16/24 patients (67 0/0) vs 16/25 patients (64 %). There were no differences in the form of induction or termination of the VI in both groups, either. We conclude that no significant statistical differences were fgund in the two groups analysed.