Use of isometric exercise to demonstrate cardiac parasympathetic impairment in the digestive form of Chagas' disease.

Standardized handgrip at 100% of maximal voluntary capacity was used to study heart rate responses to isometric exercise in patients with the digestive form of Chagas' disease. The chronotropic responses of the group were significantly lower (P less than 0.001) than those exhibited by control subjects, and comparable to those observed in a group of cardiac chagasic patients. These results show that severe impairment of autonomic control of the heart may occur in chagasic patients apparently having only digestive tract involvement.