[Cardiac attacks in patients with acute Chagas disease in a family micro-outbreak, in Abaetetuba, Brazilian Amazon].

The authors describe the main clinical findings relative to cardiac involvement, in patients with acute Chagas' disease (CD) in yet another familial micro-epidemic episode of CD in Amazon region. Thirteen patients were studied with acute Chagas' disease, resident in the city of Abaetetuba in Pará state; they were submitted to clinical and heart evaluation, with electrocardiograph and echocardiograph exams. Ventricular extrasystole occurred in 38.5% of the cases. Right bundle branch block and 1st and 2nd degree atrioventricular block were found in 30.8% of the patients. Attention is called to two findings in the Doppler echocardiography: pericardiac involvement and an image suggestive of aneurismatic formation in two patients. The findings reveal acute heart disease, with evidence of cardiomyopathy and alterations in the conduction system of the heart, bearing similarity with the description of the disease in endemic areas.