Automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillators in Chagas' heart disease patients with malignant ventricular arrhythmias

A total of 46 consecutive Chagas' disease patients had an automatic cardioverter defibrillator implanted at our institution from October 1998 to January 2004. A retrospective longitudinal study was carried out to identity type of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias as well as type of therapy delivered. Of these, 41 (91%) had been recovered from cardiac arrest. Five (15%) of 33 patients in whom echocardiography was done had no left ventricular function. Antiarrhythmic therapy was delivered to 37 (80%) patients during postimplant follow-up. Thirty-one of 37 (84%) patients received both shock and antitachycardia pacing, five (13%) only antitachycardia pacing, and one (3%) patient only shock. Median time to first shock was 16 days, varying from 1 to 576 days. Ventricular fibrillation was the cause of first shock in 12 patients (32%), ventricular tachycardia in 11 (29%), and ventricular tachycardia not responding to antitachycardia pacing degenerating into ventricular fibrillation in nine (24%). Five patients with ventricular tachycardia were treated with antitachycardia pacing. Probability of freedom from device discharged was 47% at 90 days, 34% at 180 days, and 9% at 360 days in the postimplant follow-up. Thus, patients with chronic Chagas' heart disease recovered from cardiac arrest have a peculiar arrhythmogenic profile characterized by a high frequency of ventricular fibrillation and no left ventricular systolic dysfunction and a short period of time for first shock.