Background: Some patients with Kawasaki disease develop giant coronary aneurysms and coronary stenosis, leading to ischemic heart disease. The aim of this study was to determine the long-term prognosis of patients with Kawasaki disease with giant aneurysms.
Methods and results: From our institutional database, 76 patients (57 men and 19 women) who developed giant aneurysms after January 1, 1972, were identified. Information on patient demographics, catheter and surgical interventions, and most recent status was collected from medical charts and patients' contacts. From these data, we calculated the survival rate and cumulative coronary intervention rate. The average age at onset was 2.9±2.9 years, and the median observational period was 19 years. During this period, 7 patients died and 1 patient underwent a heart transplantation, resulting in 95%, 88%, and 88% survival rates at 10, 20, and 30 years after the onset of KD, respectively. On the other hand, catheter and surgical coronary interventions (median, 1 intervention; range, 1 to 7 interventions) were performed to alleviate coronary ischemia in 46 patients (61%) at 1 month to 21 years (mode at 1 month) after onset, resulting in 28%, 43%, and 59% cumulative coronary intervention rates at 5, 15, and 25 years after onset, respectively.
Conclusions: The long-term survival of patients with Kawasaki disease complicated by giant coronary aneurysms is moderately good with multiple catheter and surgical interventions. Further research should focus on the prevention of coronary vascular remodeling and on the indications for and effectiveness of percutaneous and surgical coronary interventions.