Ultrasonic assessment of vascular function in Kawasaki disease

Excerpt

Kawasaki disease is a syndrome first reported by Dr. Kawasaki in 1967 [1]. It is a self-limited acute febrile condition that more commonly affects infants; it affects 12,000–14,000 children in Japan annually. The cause is unknown, but it is thought to essentially be systemic vasculitis. Inflammation, which appears more commonly in medium-sized muscular arteries, is particularly pronounced in the coronary arteries, and despite advances in treatment in the acute phase, 3% of diagnosed infants still suffer from late coronary artery aneurysms. In the acute phase, infiltration by inflammatory cells such as activated monocytes and macrophages occurs, which interact with vascular endothelial cells to secrete various adhesive molecules and cytokines, damaging the internal elastic membrane, medial smooth muscle, and intercellular matrix, which are important for maintaining the arterial structure, and leading to coronary artery lesions such as coronary artery aneurysms. …