Vitamin D is associated with various pathological conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. We investigated the relationship between vitamin D and Kawasaki disease (KD).

We performed a retrospective review of the medical records of patients with KD between February 2013 and March 2016 in Daegu Fatima Hospital. Study participants were grouped according to vitamin D serum concentration. Group 1 included...

Activation of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) present on circulating monocytes in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) can lead to the production of proinflammatory cytokines and interleukin-10 (IL-10). We aimed to determine the association of the frequency of circulating TLR2+/CD14+ monocytes (FTLR2%) with the outcomes of KD, as well as to compare FTLR2% to the usefulness of sIL-10.

The FTLR2% in patients...

Myocardial dysfunction and dysrhythmias are inevitable consequences of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. We aimed to evaluate specific trends of electrocardiographic changes that reflect the progress of cardiomyopathy in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Fifty electrocardiograms (ECGs) of 30 patients (ages 1 to 27 years) who had not been prescribed medications for heart failure treatment at the time of examination were retrospectively analyzed...

The aims of this study were to compare serum procalcitonin (PCT) levels between febrile children with Kawasaki disease (KD) and those with bacterial or viral infections, and assess the clinical usefulness of PCT level in predicting KD.

Serum PCT levels were examined in febrile pediatric patients admitted between August 2013 and August 2014. The patients were divided into 3 groups as...

Kawasaki disease (KD) is an immune-related multisystemic vasculitis that occurs in children, especially ensuing from a coronary artery abnormality. Sodium level is known to be related to vascular injury, which could affect the progress of KD. The purpose of this study was to determine the serum sodium levels that could predict the occurrence of cardiac and coronary artery events in...

Previously, Kawasaki disease (KD) treatment with low-dose aspirin was administered for 6–8 weeks after the acute phase. However, inflammatory marker levels normalize before 6–8 weeks. In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical outcome of short-term low-dose aspirin treatment based on inflammatory and thrombotic marker levels.

We performed a retrospective review of the medical records of patients with KD who...

We conducted a study to determine which factors may be useful as predictive markers in identifying Kawasaki disease (KD) patients with a high risk of resistance to intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and developing coronary artery lesions (CAL).

We enrolled 287 patients in acute phase of KD at a single center. The demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected retrospectively.

There were 34 patients...

Neurocardiogenic syncope (NCS) is the most frequent cause of fainting during adolescence. Inappropriate cardiovascular autonomic control may be responsible for this clinical event. The head-up tilt test has been considered a diagnostic standard, but it is cumbersome and has a high false-positive rate. We performed a study to evaluate whether P-wave dispersion (PWD) could be a useful electrocardiographic parameter of...

Generally, aspirin is used as a protective agent against thrombogenic phenomenon after pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) using a bioprosthetic valve. However, the appropriate duration of aspirin use is unclear. We analyzed the impact of postoperative duration of aspirin use on the longevity of bioprosthetic pulmonary valves in patients who underwent repair for congenital heart diseases.

We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data...

This study investigated predictors of unresponsiveness to second-line intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment for Kawasaki disease (KD).

This was a single-center analysis of the medical records of 588 patients with KD who had been admitted to Asan Medical Center between 2006 and 2014. Related clinical and laboratory data were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Eighty (13.6%) of the 588 patients...

Although a significant number of reports on new therapeutic options for refractory Kawasaki disease (KD) such as steroid, infliximab, or repeated intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) are available, their effectiveness in reducing the prevalence of coronary artery lesions (CAL) remains controversial. This study aimed to define the clinical characteristics of patients with refractory KD and to assess the effects of adjuvant therapy...

Recent reports showed that plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) could be a useful biomarker of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) unresponsiveness and coronary artery lesion (CAL) development in Kawasaki disease (KD). The levels of these peptides are critically influenced by age; hence, the normal range and upper limits for infants and children are different. We performed an age-adjusted analysis of plasma...

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) leads to right ventricular failure (RVF) as well as an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance. Our purpose was to study the effect of sildenafil on right ventricular remodeling in a rat model of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced RVF.

The rats were distributed randomly into 3 groups. The control (C) group, the monocrotaline (M) group (MCT 60 mg/kg) and the...

Severe aplastic anemia (SAA), a fatal disease, requires multiple transfusion, immunosuppressive therapy, and finally, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) as the definitive treatment. We hypothesized that iron overloading associated with multiple transfusions and HSCTrelated complications may adversely affect cardiac function. Left ventricular (LV) function was assessed in children after HSCT for SAA.

Forty-six consecutive patients with a median age of 9.8...

This study aimed to evaluate the correlation, according to postnatal age, between plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels and echocardiographic parameters for the assessment of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in preterm infants with respiratory distress.

We enrolled 42 preterm infants with respiratory distress who underwent serial echocardiographic evaluation with simultaneous plasma BNP measurements until ductal closure. The correlations between BNP levels...

Medium-dose (1 g/kg) intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is effective in the majority of patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) but some patients who do not respond to medium-dose IVIG are at high risk for the development of coronary artery lesions (CALs). The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical predictors associated with unresponsiveness to medium-dose IVIG and the development of...

There are no specific tests for diagnosing Kawasaki disease (KD). Additional diagnostic criteria are needed to prevent the delayed diagnosis of incomplete Kawasaki disease (IKD). This study compared the frequency of coronary artery lesions (CALs) in IKD patients with and without anterior uveitis (AU) and elucidated whether the finding of AU supported the diagnosis of IKD.

This study enrolled patients diagnosed...

Studies have been conducted to identify predictive factors of resistance to intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) for Kawasaki disease (KD). However, the results are conflicting. This study aimed to identify laboratory factors predictive of resistance to high-dose IVIG for KD by performing meta-analysis of available studies using statistical techniques.

All relevant scientific publications from 2006 to 2014 were identified through PubMed searches. For...

Infantile Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a rare congenital inheritable connective tissue disorder with poor prognosis. This study aimed to evaluate the cardiovascular manifestations and overall prognosis of infantile MFS diagnosed in a tertiary referral center in Korea.

Eight patients diagnosed with infantile MFS between 2004 and 2014 were retrospectively evaluated.

Their median age at the time of diagnosis was 2.5 months (range,...

We evaluated the characteristics of patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) who presented with only fever and cervical lymphadenopathy on admission, and compared them with the characteristics of those who presented with typical features but no cervical lymphadenopathy.

We enrolled 98 patients diagnosed with KD. Thirteen patients had only fever and cervical lymphadenopathy on the day of admission (group 1), 31 had...