Giant coronary aneurysms in Kawasaki disease

Giant coronary aneurysms in Kawasaki disease

Kawasaki disease is a rare disorder in which coronary aneurysms can occur in young children. Kawasaki disease is also known as mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome. It typically occurs as a febrile illness with involvement of the lips and tongue. There is conjunctival congestion as well as involvement of the lymph nodes, usually in the neck. Redness of palms and feet and peeling of skin may occur as the cutaneous manifestations.

Kenji Suda, Motofumi Iemura, Hiroshi Nishiono, Yozo Teramachi, Yusuke Koteda, Shintaro Kishimoto, Yoshiyuki Kudo, Shinichi Itoh, Haruka Ishii, Takafumi Ueno, Tadashi Tashiro, Masakiyo Nobuyoshi, Hirohisa Kato and Toyojiro Matsuishi [1] have come out with long term data on the follow up of patients with Kawasaki disease and giant coronary aneurysms. They could identify 76 patients with giant coronary aneurysms from their institutional data base since 1972. The average age at onset was about 3 years and the median follow up was about two decades. Seven of them died and one underwent cardiac transplantation over the follow up period. The survival rates calculated were 95% at ten years and 88% at thirty years. About two thirds of them had undergone surgical or catheter based interventions to alleviate coronary ischemia. The authors call for further research on the role of coronary interventions in those with coronary aneurysms following Kawasaki disease.

Reference

  1. Kenji Suda, Motofumi Iemura, Hiroshi Nishiono, Yozo Teramachi, Yusuke Koteda, Shintaro Kishimoto, Yoshiyuki Kudo, Shinichi Itoh, Haruka Ishii, Takafumi Ueno, Tadashi Tashiro, Masakiyo Nobuyoshi, Hirohisa Kato, Toyojiro Matsuishi. Long-term prognosis of patients with Kawasaki disease complicated by giant coronary aneurysms: a single-institution experience. Circulation. 2011 May 3;123(17):1836-42.