CONCENTRATION CHANGES OF ELECTROLYTES IN SERUM OF CHRONIC CHAGASIC MYOCARDIOPATHIC PATIENTS - SODIUM, POTASSIUM, CHLORIDE, CALCIUM, INORGANIC PHOSPHORUS AND MAGNESIUM

Sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, inorganic phosphorus (Pi) and magnesium contents in the serum of 75 myocardiopathic chagasic patients together with that in 29 healthy controls were determined. Blood samples were taken by catheterization from the superior cava vein (SCV), coronary sinus (CS), pulmonary artery (PA) and a peripheral artery, usually the femoral (FA). The results show that the average serum sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium and PI were invariably different in most samples, except the levels of potassium in SCV and Pi levels in FA. The serum concentration of magnesium was significantly different only in the blood of CS. In general one can observe that in the chagasic patients the serum sodium, chloride and calcium tend to diminish while serum potassium, Pi and magnesium tend to increase, especially in CS blood. The coronary gradient indicates that sodium, chloride and calcium tend to deposit in heart tissues, whereas the other elements (potassium, magnesium and Pi) tend to be released from this tissue. The systemic and peripheric gradients suggest that the chemical elements under study tend either to deposit in/or be released from different tissues depending on the course of development of the chagasic myocardiopathy.