Usefulness of dipyridamole stress echocardiography for assessing the left ventricular function in the children with Kawasaki disease

Abstract

Objective To explore the value of dipyridamole stress echocardiography in assessing the left ventricular function reserve in the children with Kawasaki disease.Methods The study population consisted of 21 patients with a history of Kawasaki disease and they all had coronary artery lesions that were determined by echocardiography.According to the findings by 99mTC-MIBI imaging,the patients were categorized into 2 groups:group A of abnormal 99mTC-MIBI imaging distribution(14 patients) and group N of normal distribution(7 patients).And their left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF),cardiac index(CI),pre-injection period/left ventricular ejection time(PEP/LVET),fraction shortening(FS),the early-diastolic peak transmitral velocity(Emax) and peak late diastolic transmitral velocity(Amax) were measured before and after injection of dipyridamole.Results Before dipyridamole stress,there was no significant difference in every index between group A and group N.And after dipyridamole stress,CI of group A decreased significantly (P<0.05);PEP/LVET of group A increased significantly (P<0.05),and one hour after dipyridamole stress they recovered to the normal level.Conclusion For the children with abnormal distribution of 99Tcm-MIBI imaging,their left ventricle function reserve was attenuated.Dipyridamole stress echocardiography is a simple and safe way for evaluating cardiac function of the patients with Kawasaki disease,and suitable for continuous assessment of cardiac function,which is helpful for follow-up. Key words: Kawasaki disease; Stress echocardiography; Dipyridamole; Left ventricular function