Use of a left ventricular assist device (Heart Mate III) as a destination therapy in a patient with chronic heart failure due to Chagas disease. Could it have been avoided?

Introduction: Chagas is an infectious disease that may produce chronic consequences such as cardiac failure (IC), enlarged esophagus and colon. Cardiac failure can shorten people's lives and severely affect their quality of life. There are not many alternatives to treat patients with advanced cardiac damage. Recently, it has been proposed that implantation of devices that provide mechanical circulatory support may help Chagas' patients with advanced IC to improve its quality of life.

Objective: To analyze the case of a patient with Chagas disease who was not treated in a timely manner due to failures in primary care, the consequences on his health, and the cost of late treatment that could have been avoided.

Materials and methods: Diagnostic methods revealed damage at the functional and structural level of the heart, classifying the condition as CHF, which led to the implantation of a technological medical device (DMT).

Results: We present here the results of implanting such a device (Heart Mate 3) in a 54-year-old Colombian male patient with a 2 years diagnosis of advanced (IC) as a consequence of chronic Chagas infection.

Conclusion: Chagas disease represents one of the oldest communicable diseases in the region of the Americas. Public health programs today should redirect their prevention programs into predictive- type interventions to offer more timely treatment, reducing care expenses and positively impacting the health budget.