Arq. Bras. Cardiol. 2024; 121(4): e20230798

Effects of Immunosuppression in Heart Transplant Patients Due to Chagas Disease

Lúcio Moreira Fontenele, Nayara Ribeiro Máximo de Almeida, Breno Rennan de Souza Carvalho, Egidio Bezerra da Silva Neto, Brenda dos Santos Teixeira, Johnnatas Mikael Lopes

DOI: 10.36660/abc.20230798i

Cardiac involvement in Chagas Disease (CD) represents the most severe form of the disease, occurring in 30 to 40% of infected patients. Patients with heart failure of chagasic origin are often refractory to drug treatment, requiring assessment of the need for heart transplantation (CT). After carrying out the CT, it is necessary patient’s immunosuppression to ensure a greater chance of graft acceptance and vitality, on the other hand, immunosuppression is a contributing factor to CD relapse, which could directly compromise the graft or even worsen other health parameters of the patient, directly impacting mortality in the next 5 years after transplant. Many of the cardiac therapies implemented in CD come from therapies studied in heart diseases of other origins, requiring more therapeutic research in populations of individuals with CD.

The article entitled Survival of Survival of Heart Transplant Patients with Chagas’ Disease Under Different Antiproliferative Immunosuppressive Regimens presents a theme of extreme importance for the scenario of care for individuals with Chagas, especially concerning harmful outcomes such as death and reactivation of the disease.

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