Pharmacological treatment of kawasaki disease

Abstract

Introduction: Kawasaki disease is a systemic vasculitis of unknown origin and its main complication is the formation of coronary aneurysms. Objective: To conduct an updated review of the literature on the pharmacological treatment of Kawasaki disease. Materials and methods: A structured literature search was conducted in the ProQuest, EBSCO, ScienceDirect, PubMed, LILACS, Embase, Trip Database, SciELO and Cochrane Library databases with the terms “Kawasaki disease AND therapeutics”, “Kawasaki disease AND treatment” and “Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome AND therapeutics”, in English and their equivalents in Spanish. Results: 51 articles were found with information relevant for this review. Conclusions: Early diagnosis and treatment of Kawasaki disease is essential to prevent coronary complications. Treatment includes combined therapy with acetylsalicylic acid plus immunoglobulin G, which reduces the incidence of coronary aneurysms. On the other hand, corticosteroid therapies and other immunosuppressive drugs are alternatives used to treat immunoglobulin-resistant Kawasaki disease.