Patients with Chagas Disease are at greater risk when undergoing arrhythmia treatment

A study conducted by researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo revealed that patients with Chagas Disease who suffer from severe arrhythmias are at greater risk during treatment. Research has shown that different causes contribute to mortality in procedures such as catheter insertion.

The study, published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health - Americas, indicated that chagasic patients undergoing catheter ablation - a minimally invasive procedure used to treat cardiac arrhythmias - die from non-cardiac factors up to 2.41 times more often than those with other types of heart disease.

Catheter ablation cauterizes the points in the heart that generate the "short circuit" that causes arrhythmia. However, in Chagas Disease, the procedure is technically more complex, requiring additional procedures, such as access to the outer layer of the heart. This additional step proved to be necessary in 78% of cases of chagasic patients, a rate significantly higher than the 15% recorded in patients with ischemic heart disease - the narrowing of the coronary arteries.

The study used data from 378 procedures performed on 288 patients undergoing treatment at the HCFMUSP Heart Institute between 2011 and 2020. According to the researchers, the findings reinforce that the treatment of arrhythmia in Chagas Disease requires strict monitoring of heart failure and other comorbidities, even after hospital discharge.

"The study reflects that it is necessary to improve health care for patients with Chagas Disease in general, considering that the vast majority of this population is cared for by the SUS (Unified Health System)", highlights Rodrigo Melo Kulchetscki, one of the authors of the study and a PhD student in Cardiology at the USP Faculty of Medicine.

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Source: CNN