Follow-Up Chest X-Ray in Patients with Kawasaki Disease: The Significance and Clinical Application of Coronary Artery Macro-Calcification

Kawasaki disease (KD) related coronary artery (CA) aneurysms may lead to significant and potentially insidious progressive stenosis. It is also well recognized that CA scarring leads to heavy calcification in KD. We intended to correlate the angiographic anomalies associated with coronary calcifications in KD and to evaluate the chronology and the detection rate of KD-related CA calcification on plain chest X-ray. Between 1992 and 2006, 65 CA angiograms were performed in 50 KD patients. Chest fluoroscopies and angiograms were retrospectively reviewed. When angiograms were abnormal, chest X-rays were reviewed by two radiologists blinded to the results of angiograms. CA lesions were identified in 18/50 (36%) patients, including isolated CA aneurysms in 10. All 8 patients who had CA aneurysms associated with stenosis and/or occlusion had CA calcification identifiable on chest X-ray. All significant stenotic lesions were concomitant with calcification. Plain chest X-ray, a simple inexpensive low dose mean, easily identifies KD patients at risk for serious CA stenosis when specific search for CA calcification is pursued. When detected, a closer tracking of coronary artery patency is warranted via other imaging techniques, usually expensive, invasive, requiring sedation in children or exposing to high radiation.