Intravenous Immunoglobulin-resistant Disease Research Articles

Concurrent Respiratory Viruses and Kawasaki Disease.

The diagnosis of Kawasaki disease (KD) remains challenging without a definitive diagnostic test and currently is guided by using clinical patient characteristics and supported by laboratory data. The role of respiratory viruses in the pathogenesis of KD is not fully understood. Charts of patients with KD admitted to Children's Hospital Colorado from January 2009 to May 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with KD who had a nasopharyngeal wash submitted for multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) viral testing were included. Clinical characteristics, laboratory data, and outcomes of patients with and without positive respiratory viral PCR results were compared. Of 222 patients with KD admitted to the hospital, 192 (86%) had a respiratory viral PCR test performed on or shortly after admission. Ninety-three (41.9%) of the 192 patients with KD had a positive respiratory viral PCR, and the majority were positive for rhinovirus/enterovirus. No statistically significant differences were found in the clinical characteristics and laboratory values between the groups with and without positive respiratory viral PCR findings. Both groups had the same frequency of upper respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms and had the same incidence of admission to the PICU, intravenous immunoglobulin-resistant disease, and coronary artery lesions. No differences in clinical presentations or outcomes in children with KD stratified according to positive or negative respiratory viral PCR testing were observed. A positive respiratory viral PCR or presence of respiratory symptoms at the time of presentation should not be used to exclude a diagnosis of KD.

Terapia biológica en las vasculitis sistémicas

Several biological therapies have been evaluated in systemic vasculitis. Anti TNF-α agents may have a role in the treatment of Takayasu's arteritis and probably in giant cell arteritis. In Kawasaki's disease, infliximab is an option in subjects with intravenous immunoglobulin-resistant disease. Anti TNF-α cannot be recommended to treat ANCA-associated vasculitis. Anti-T lymphocyte globulin and alemtuzumab could have a role in the treatment of ANCA associated vasculitis, although current information about these two biological treatments comes from conventional resistant treatment cases, so the high incidence of complications and relapses observed with these treatment may be intrinsic to the severity of the disease and not related to the biological agents.