An analysis of the intracardiac autonomic nervous system (ICANS) has been made in 150 histological sections obtained from atrial fragments of a 74 year-old man who died of cardiac failure, as a consequence of acute Chagas' disease (ACD), probably acquired via digestive tract. Small quantities of mononuclear infiltrate around ganglia and/or nerve branches without significam morphologic alterations of the neurons were found in 10 slides; another slide showed ganglionitis and periganglionitis of moderate intensity associated to neuronal alterations. Focal epicarditis, usually of slight degree, was observed in ali slides. The findings suggest: a) that the inflammation of ganglia and fibers of the ICANS in the ACD occurs aí least in part by expansion from adjacent epicarditis; b) that even in the fatal cases of the Tripanosomiasis cruzi the pathologic lesions ofthe ICANS may be slight.
Chagas' disease; Chagasic cardiopathy; Autonomic nervous system; Intracardiac autonomic nervous system; Trypanosomiasis cruzi