Several cases of Kawasaki disease (KD) were unresponsive to the initial treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). We retrospectively analyzed all children admitted with KD to determine the occurrence and variables associated with the initial IVIG treatment failure. All patients who fulfilled the criteria for KD and were treated with a single dose (2 g/kg) of IVIG between January 1995 and August 2001 were enrolled. An analysis of the patients who had initially failed to respond to IVIG was performed. A total of 120 patients were enrolled during the study period. There were 68 boys (56.7%). Fourteen patients (11.6%) were found to be unresponsive to initial IVIG treatment. Patients who were anemic (Hb<10 G/DL), had a high neutrophil count (> 75%), a high band count, and low albumin were at risk of failure to respond to a single dose of IVIG. We found no correlation among age, gender, days since starting IVIG treatment, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) with failure of the initial IVIG treatment. There were 12 patients (10%) who developed coronary artery aneurysms. The failure of a single dose of IVIG treatment occured in up to 11.6% of our Kawasaki patients. We found that low hemoglobin (<10 G/DL), high neutrophil count (> 75%), high band count, and a low albumin were associated with the requirement for retreatment with a second dose of IVIG.
The location, size, and rim of an atrial septal defect (ASD) are major determining factors for transcatheter closure. We compared the measurements of ASD size and the characteristics of atrial septal rim using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with those obtained using transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Patients with an ASD that met established criteria were selected for evaluation by cardiac MRI and TEE. There were 66 patients who underwent both TEE and cardiac MRI. Bland-Altman comparative analysis was performed to demonstrate agreement between measurement of ASD by MRI and balloon sizing compared to measurement of ASD by TEE and balloon sizing. Twelve patients were excluded from transcatheter closure of ASD. TEE did not demonstrate an adequate measurement of the posterior inferior rim in 10 of 66 patients. Fifty-four patients underwent transcatheter closure using the Amplatzer septal occluder. Of these, 52 patients had successful closure (ASD measurements of 25.9 +/- 5.6 mm using MRI and 21.9 +/- 5.8 mm using TEE). The median device size was 28 mm (range, 11-38). Patients who had successful closure had a significantly smaller major axis of ASD and larger posterior inferior rim compared to those of patients who were excluded from the closure procedure. Cardiac MRI showed a better correlation of ASD diameter measurement to balloon sizing compared to TEE. We believe that the most important predictive factor for successful transcatheter closure of an ASD is an adequate posterior inferior rim, which is best visualized using cardiac MRI.
This study was conducted to assess the use of the serum cardiac troponin T (cTnT) level as a noninvasive indicator to differentiate acute myocarditis and chronic dilated cardiomyopathy in pediatric patients. Myocarditis and dilated cardiomyopathy are clinically difficult to differentiate. Endomyocardial biopsy proved to be quite useful. However, the nature of the procedure--invasiveness, time-consuming, and limited sensitivity--caused some concerns, especially in pediatric patients. Hence, we attempted to find an alternative method that could give a prompt diagnosis of acute myocarditis. Twenty cases with clinically suspected myocarditis or dilated cardiomyopathy and a control group of 21 cases with moderate left-to-right shunt and congestive heart failure were recruited. History, physical examination, electrocardiogram, chest roentgenogram, echocardiogram, cTnT, creatine kinase MB isoenzyme (CK-MB mass), and/or endomyocardial biopsy were compared. The gold standard used to diagnose myocarditis is endomyocardial biopsy (Dallas criteria) and/or recovery from cardiovascular problems within 6 months of follow-up. Ten patients were diagnosed as having myocarditis (group 1) and 10 with chronic dilated cardiomyopathy (group 2). The control group of 21 cases was designated as group 3. The median serum cTnT levels were 0.088 (0.04-3.11), 0.010 (0.010-0.990), and 0.010 (0.010-0.550) ng/ml in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The mean CK-MB mass level for groups, 1, 2, and 3 were 18.35 (7.14-70.00), 4.80 (0.54-108.00), and 2.26 (0.95-7.06) ng/ml. The study showed that both the cTnT and CK-MB mass levels were significantly higher in group 1 than either group 2 or group 3. Histopathology was studied in 9 cases. In 2 of 5 cases and in all 4 cases in group 1 and group 2 histopathology was pathologically proved. Levels of cTnT and CK-MB were significantly higher for myocarditis than for dilated cardiomyopathy and left-to-right shunt with CHF. Further study is needed to assess the optimum cTnT level for differentiating both conditions.
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