Abstract
Introduction Coronary arteries of patients with a history of Kawasaki disease have generally been evaluated by echocardiography and coronary angiography. However, when pediatric patients get older, the echo window gets gradually narrower, and thus echocardiographic evaluation becomes difficult. Moreover, since coronary angiography is invasive, this method is not appropriate for ambulatory follow-up. Electron beam computed tomography (EBT) allows to scan in 50 msec at the shortest without cardiac motion artifact or the influence of lungs or bones. The usefulness of EBT in the field of cardiovascular medicine has been reported. Purpose To evaluate coronary arteries by EBT in patients with a history of Kawasaki diseaseSubjects Subjects were 12 patients aged 5 - 25 years old with a history of Kawasaki disease (5 males and 7 females). At the time of examination, 2 cases had coronary aneurysm, 5 had regressed coronary arterial lesion and other 5 had no coronary arterial lesion from the acute stage. Materials and Methods IMATRON C-150XP (Imatron, US) was used for EBT, and Accu View Work Station (AccImage, US) for image processing. As a contrast medium, iopromide 370 (2 ml/kg) was injected into a peripheral vein. Imaging was performed electrocardiography triggered and breath-holding under the conditions of 3 mm slice, 2 mm feed and 0.1 sec/scan. Results In all cases, coronary arteries including aneurysm were visualized by image construction. Calcification of coronary arteries was suspected in 1 case of the patients with coronary aneurysm and 1 case of the patients with regressed coronary arterial lesion.Discussion In comparison with echocardiography, EBT shows fewer artifacts caused by lungs or bones. This method is much less invasive than coronary arteriography and useful for long-term follow-up of patients with a history of Kawasaki disease.
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fujiwara, M., Okada, M., Ishikawa, Y. et al. Attempt to Evaluate Coronary Arteries by Electron Beam Computed Tomography in Patients with a History of Kawasaki Disease. Pediatr Res 53, 184 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200301000-00185
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200301000-00185