Pathogenesis of chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy: the role of coronary microvascular derangements

• Published in: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Main Authors: Jose Antonio Marin-Neto, Marcus Vinicius Simoes, Anis Rassi Junior
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2013
• Subjects: Chagas disease; Microvascular coronary disease; Pathogenesis; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0028-2013; https://doaj.org/article/57a09d09b1d244d5a86fb3579d4c7042

There is ample experimental and clinical evidence of functional and structural microvascular abnormalities occurring in patients with Chagas cardiomyopathy, possibly due to the inflammatory process and/or autonomic disturbances caused by Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Those microvascular derangements are likely to constitute at least an ancillary factor that potentiates and amplifies the chronic inflammation in myocardial tissue. It is possible to devise appropriate therapeutic interventions aimed at reverting or slowing the progression of the microvascular abnormalities to positively affect the natural history of Chagas cardiomyopathy.