Sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia as the presenting sign of Chagas’ cardiomyopathy in a low prevalence setting, diagnosis and management challenges. A case report

Abstract

Approximately 300,000 people in the United States are estimated to have Chagas’ disease, with cardiac manifestations including arrhythmias occurring in 20%–30% of patients. We report a patient diagnosed with Chagas’ cardiomyopathy after presenting in ventricular tachycardia. This patient was asymptomatic before her presentation with recurrent episodes of ventricular tachycardia, which motivated us to screen her since she was an immigrant from an endemic Chagas region. This manuscript highlights some of the characteristic cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electrophysiology findings present in patients with Chagas’ cardiomyopathy. We also detail the management of patients with Chagas’ cardiomyopathy who have suffered from ventricular tachycardia.