Abstract

Background: Coronary artery aneurysms (CAA) are a serious complication of Kawasaki disease (KD). Regression of CAA occurs in 50% of the cases on follow up. Actual imaging techniques often described these segments as normal, whereas studies have shown significant endothelial and smooth muscle dysfunction. Method: KD patients scheduled for angiographic follow-up between June 2013 and August 2014 underwent OCT imaging. We compared coronary intimal changes in coronary artery segments with no history of CAA to segments with regressed CAA, and segments with persistent CAA. The intima was measured in sections adjacent to the CAA for the segments with persistent CAA, at the former CAA and adjacent sections for those who regressed, and at various corresponding sections for segments with no history of CAA. Results: OCT was performed on 18 patients at 12.4 ± 5.5 years. Overall 14/18 (77.7%) had a history of CAA. Of those, 7/14 (50.0%) had regressed CAA at time of OCT. Data was analyzed according to echocardiographic and angiographic progress of CAA segments. Accordingly, all 18/18 persistent CAA segments and 11/11 regressed CAA segments had significant intimal hyperplasia, compared to 1/13 with no history of segmental CAA (P<0.001). The intensity of intimal hyperplasia is displayed in Table 1. Conclusion: Despite normal angiographic features, regressed CAA segments displayed significant intimal hyperplasia, similarly to those with persistent CAA. These features may present a risk of adverse coronary events.

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