Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute systemic vasculitis that is currently the leading cause of acquired heart disease in childhood in the United States. Cardiovascular complications are the major cause of morbidity, are responsible for virtually all deaths from KD and should be evaluated as soon as possible after the acute phase to establish the baseline status, in order to predict disease progression and determine adequate treatment. In selected patients, electrocardiography (ECG)-gated cardiac computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging are valuable non-invasive techniques that can be used to help diagnose the cardiovascular complications associated with KD. In this article, we review the epidemiology, aetiology and pathogenesis, histopathology, clinical features, cardiovascular complications and imaging, focusing on the role of cardiac CT and MR on the initial assessment and follow-up of the cardiovascular complications of KD.

We report the case of a 19-year-old woman 33 weeks pregnant who presented a painful mass of progressive growth in the neck, having also dysphonia and dyspnea. Physical examination revealed a primary laryngeal tumor. A neuroendocrine small-cell carcinoma was diagnosed after histopathology, immunohistochemistry and genetic studies. Chemo-radiotherapy with a cisplatin-etoposide schedule was administered. Despite obtaining a complete response, the patient relapsed and finally survived 35 months with successive cisplatin-based treatments. Small-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the larynx is an uncommon entity, differential diagnosis can be problematic and treatment is challenging.

There are many disorders that may involve the left ventricular (LV) apex; however, they are sometimes difficult to differentiate. In this setting cardiac imaging methods can provide the clue to obtaining the diagnosis. The purpose of this review is to illustrate the spectrum of diseases that most frequently affect the apex of the LV including Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy, LV aneurysms and pseudoaneurysms, apical diverticula, apical ventricular remodelling, apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, LV non-compaction, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia with LV involvement and LV false tendons, with an emphasis on the diagnostic criteria and imaging features.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13244-011-0091-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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La formación de pseudoaneurismas en zonas sin isquemia y no manipuladas durante la cirugía cardíaca resulta una incógnita. Presentamos a un varón de 63 años sometido a cirugía tipo Bentall que en la ecografía control presenta en ápex de ventrículo izquierdo un fl ujo sistólico hacia un posible pseudoaneurisma. La cardiorresonancia y la tomografía computarizada permiten confi rmar el pseudoaneurisma apical además de material quirúrgico en epicardio. Se ha planteado que la hipotermia quirúrgica podría incrementar la rigidez de las cánulas de circulación extracorpórea y justifi car lesiones en zonas no manipuladas por los cirujanos, lo que contribuiría a nuevos cuidados durante la intervención.