Cardiac and renal alterations in dogs with visceral leishmaniose

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis is an endemic disease that afflicts people from five continents in 88 countries located in tropical and subtropical regions, according to estimates by the World Health Organization, the worldwide prevalence of different clinical forms of leishmaniasis over 12 million cases, with Brazil accounting for 90% of cases of American visceral leishmaniasis. Visceral leishmaniasis in dogs is considered a multisystemic disease and knows that one of the major organs to be affected are the kidneys, Some studies describe the presence of kidney damage in dogs affected by the disease, but does not mention any mechanisms that lead to conditions of renal hypertension and therefore the consequences of systemic hypertension on myocardial function in dogs, but other medical literature is extremely sparse with respect to the function and cardiac abnormalities in dogs with the disease. Thus, this study aims to assess myocardial function in dogs with renal failure for visceral leishmaniasis. To do so will be assessed all dogs with visceral leishmaniasis and renal failure referred to the Veterinary Hospital of UNESP-Campus Araçatuba during the period between August 2009 and August 2010. These will undergo a physical examination, laboratory tests, chest X-electrocardiography, Doppler echocardiography, blood pressure measurement, determination of serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), aldosterone, renin, troponin I, lactate dehydrogenase 1 (LDH1), creatine kinase MB fraction (CK-MB), histopathology of the myocardium and kidneys, and search for amastigotes of Leishmania chagasi in these tissues in an attempt to better understand the pathophysiology of visceral leishmaniasis in the cardiovascular system. (AU)