Demographic, clinical and pathologic characteristics of study patients.

AThe degree of myocarditis was determined according to the number of lymphocytes plus macrophages in cChHD: Severe >48 median CD3++CD68+/HPF, Moderate 20–48 median CD3++CD68+/HPF, Mild <20 median CD3++CD68+/HPF. BThe percentage of fibrotic area was determined by morphometric analysis as described in Materials and Methods[21]. CParasite DNA by PCR was detected in heart sections of all cChHD, except for patient 6 [23]. Abbreviations: * NYHA FC, New York Heart Association, functional class; †LVEDD, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter; ‡LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; §cChHD, chronic Chagas heart disease; ¶GCM, Giant Cell Myocarditis; ‖‖iDCM, idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy; §IQR, interquartile range; HPF, high power field.