Multiple intestinal stenoses and peripheral gangrene: A combination of two rare surgical complications in a child with Kawasaki disease

Abstract

Kawasaki disease (KD) often presents with a challenging variety of clinical symptoms. Severe gastrointestinal complications are rare and mainly appear as pseudo-obstruction. However, the authors report the unique case of a 4-month-old girl with KD suffering from a mechanical ileus. The optimal timing of surgery presented a dilemma, because she received lytic treatment for gangrenes of both her hands and feet and additionally had large coronary artery aneurysms. Finally laparotomy had to be performed while the patient was on an anticoagulant medication, and it showed a 30-cm-long jejunal segment with multiple filiforme stenoses, requiring resection and anastomosis. The postoperative course was uneventful regarding the abdominal situation; however, the left hand and left foot remained gangrenous and had to be amputated. In patients with KD, not only pseudo-obstruction, but irreversible intestinal obliteration has to be encountered. This combination of intestinal stenosis and acral gangrene has not been discribed before. J Pediatr Surg 36:651-653. Copyright © 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company.