Coronary magnetic resonance angiography in adolescents and young adults with kawasaki disease.
BACKGROUND
In patients with Kawasaki disease, serial evaluation of the distribution and size of coronary artery aneurysms (CAA) is necessary for risk stratification and therapeutic management. Although transthoracic echocardiography is often sufficient for this purpose initially, visualization of the coronary arteries becomes progressively more difficult as children grow. We sought to prospectively compare coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and x-ray coronary angiography findings in patients with CAA caused by Kawasaki disease.


RESULTS
Six subjects (age 10 to 25 years) with known CAA from Kawasaki disease underwent coronary MRA using a free-breathing T2-prepared 3D bright blood segmented k-space gradient echo sequence with navigator gating and tracking. All patients underwent x-ray coronary angiography within a median of 75 days (range, 1 to 359 days) of coronary MRA. There was complete agreement between MRA and x-ray angiography in the detection of CAA (n=11), coronary artery stenoses (n=2), and coronary occlusions (n=2). Excellent agreement was found between the 2 techniques for detection of CAA maximal diameter (mean difference=0.4 +/- 0.6 mm) and length (mean difference=1.4 +/- 1.6 mm). The 2 methods showed very similar results for proximal coronary artery diameter (mean difference=0.2 +/- 0.5 mm) and CAA distance from the ostia (mean difference=0.1 +/- 1.5 mm).


CONCLUSIONS
Free-breathing 3D coronary MRA accurately defines CAA in patients with Kawasaki disease. This technique may provide a non-invasive alternative when transthoracic echocardiography image quality is insufficient, thereby reducing the need for serial x-ray coronary angiography in this patient group.
Greil
Gerald F
GF
Department of Cardiology, Children's Hospital, Boston, Mass 02115, USA.
Stuber
Matthias
M
Botnar
René M
RM
Kissinger
Kraig V
KV
Geva
Tal
T
Newburger
Jane W
JW
Manning
Warren J
WJ
Powell
Andrew J
AJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003323:Coronary Aneurysm / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D008297:Male; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment