title: Perivascular brightness of coronary arteries in Kawasaki disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Because perivascular echo brightness (PEB) of coronary arteries has been proposed as a criterion for diagnosis of incomplete Kawasaki disease, we assessed the clinical importance of PEB during the acute phase of disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 58 patients with Kawasaki disease who underwent two-dimensional strain analysis of images of pericoronary tissue taken during the acute and the convalescent phases. Echogenicity of pericoronary tissue and of the blood pool was determined by speckle tracking in the respective areas of imaging as the averages of integrated backscatter over a single cardiac cycle. PEB was defined as echogenicity of pericoronary tissue minus blood pool.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PEB did not differ in the acute phase in patients and control subjects (P = .10) and between phases of disease (P = .25). In comparison between patient groups, the presence of pericardial effusion was higher in patients with higher PEB during the acute phase (n = 30) than in the remaining patients (33% versus 4%, P < .01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PEB did not differ between patients and control subjects and is only associated with the presence of pericardial effusion during the acute phase of Kawasaki disease. Our data do not confirm the reliability of PEB as a useful diagnostic sign of incomplete Kawasaki disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Ulsan, Seoul, South Korea. pediatrist@medimail.co.kr
authors.forename: Jeong Jin
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Wan-Sook
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Hong Ki
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Myung-Ki
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Young-Hwue
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jae-Kon
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: In-Sook
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D010490:Pericardial Effusion / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging