ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: to describe the type of presentation, the clinical manifestations, the response to treatment and the coronary artery abnormalities in eleven cases of children with Kawasaki disease. METHODS: Eleven patients who fulfill diagnostic criteria for Kawasaki disease were studied in a six years period. RESULTS: the mean age was 26 months, 80 % of patients were less than 5 years old, the male-female ratio was 1:1.2; no differences between typic and atypic presentation were found. The most frequent clinical manifestation (80 %) was non-exudative conjunctive injection, followed by polymorphic exanthema and mucosal involvement in the mouth. Nine of 11 patients (82 %) received treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin during the first 10 days of fever; seven of these patients showed coronary artery ectasia; they showed in the echocardiogram a complete resolution in the first year of follow-up. Two patients (18 %) without intravenous immunoglobulin developed coronary aneurysms. CONCLUSIONS: the Kawasaki disease is the main cause of acquired cardiopathy in the pediatric age in our hospital, an early diagnosis and treatment within 10 days of the beginning of the fever allowed a reduction of coronary artery alterations in these patients.
