Translating Chagasic dilating cardiomyopathy to surgical therapies: An under published global challenge

• Published in: SAGE Open Medicine Vol. 7; p. 2050312119895927
• Main Authors: Groom, Zoe C, Zochios, Vasileios, Protopapas, Aristotle D
• Format: Book Review Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 2019; Sage Publications Ltd; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Cardiomyopathy; Chagas disease; Heart failure; Review Paper; global health; American trypanosomiasis; Chagas disease; tropical disease; tropical surgery
• ISSN: 2050-3121; 2050-3121
• DOI: 10.1177/2050312119895927

Chagas disease is a neglected parasitic anthropozoonosis of the Americas linked to social deprivation with no hope of eradication in the future. Having been the most common non-ischemic cause of dilating cardiomyopathy in Latin America, it now spreads beyond the geographical boundaries of its vector via imported and autochthonous transmission. We review the evidence on surgery in Chagasic heart failure and offer a brief narrative on the main aspects of translational management. There is very limited literature on surgery for Chagasic heart failure, especially assist devices and transplantation. This may be attributed to the often unsurmountable economic burden of this single-system parasymphatholytic heart failure to young sufferers who commonly have very limited access to the aforementioned procedures. Chagasic heart failure offers a so far neglected translational model of parasymphatholytic non-ischemic cardiac failure.