What happens after Kawasaki Disease Diagnosis?

Kawasaki disease is very treatable when diagnosed early. There is already a well established treatment plant that can dramatically reduce the risk of more severe consequences that has been developed over the past few decades.

Once KD is diagnosed, treatment should ideally begin as soon as possible, best within the first 10 days after the fever started because it drastically reduces the chance of inflammation damaging the coronary arteries. During treatment, many children are admitted to the hospital so doctors can monitor their condition effectively throughout treatment.

The main and most widely used treatment for KD is IVIG or intravenous immunoglobulin. This is the injection of a solution that contains antibodies collected from many healthy blood donors, helping calm the overactive immune response that is present in KD (ahajournals.org). This is usually administered through an IV over many hours and can lead to significant improvement in patient health within a few days after receiving this treatment.

Additionally, many doctors also prescribe Aspirin Therapy. Although Aspirin is avoided in many childhood illnesses because of the risk of Reyes syndrome (swelling in the liver and brain that can be fatal), it is actually one of the few situations where doctors actually recommend it. Aspirin reduces fever and inflammation, and once the fever is lowered, a lower dose is prescribed to prevent blood clots while the arteries heal up (ahajournals.org).

In order to monitor coronary arteries doctors use echocardiograms (ultrasounds of the heart) to check up on patients. It is a painless test that allows doctors to look for signs of inflammation and evaluate how well the heart is working. Many echocardiograms are needed because heart health can change and develop later in the illness (ahajournals.org).

Even after the initial treatment, doctors still need to monitor heart health. Blood tests and additional doses of IVIG are taken and prescribed as needed in order to prevent any sort of recurring fever or other symptoms of the illness. Parents are also encouraged to watch for reoccurring fever and other symptoms once returning home.

Fortunately, with early diagnosis and treatment, it is rare to see lasting heart problems and severe consequences as a result of the disease.