Five hundred sixty six unselected chronic chagasic patients from an endemic area (Bambuí, Minas Gerais, Brasil) Were Studied clinical and radiologically. The oesophageal transit time method used was the roentgenphotography with 70mm film, with a left incidence profite or righ-anterior oblique aspect. A 8.33% oesophagic dysperistalsis prevalence was verified in these patients. This was specially common after the third decade of life and no difference related to sex was observed. Seventy-two percent of oesophagic dysfunction were ofdegree I, 18% of degree II and 10% of degree III, based on the classification adapted by Rezende. Only one case of dysperistalsis (degree I) was observed among 80 sero-negative patients. The global prevalence of oesophagopathy was 18.3% in 115 patients in whom the acute phase of Chagas'disease was detected up to 27 years before. The proportion of alterations was directly related to the disease evolution time. A significant difference was verified between the above prevalence and the prevalence found in patients without a detectable acute phase. his suggests that the high percentage of oesophagopathy in patients with detectable acute phase was due to a more intense denervation occurring in those cases. A concomitant chagasic chronic cardiopathy was verified in 50% of the cases disptaying oesophagus dysperistalsis, in accord with other Authors. The simplicity of the method used for detecting oesophagus dysfunction and its low operational cost are evident, demonstrating it to be suitable for the social reality present in Chagas'disease endemic areas.
Chagas' disease; Americam trypanosomiasis; Oesophagopathy; Dysperistalsis; Chagasic cardiopathy 70mm film roentgenphotography