Abstract
We compared the efficacy of oral administration of pentoxifylline (PTX) and intravenous infusions of gamma globulin (IVGG) combination therapy with that of IVGG in reducing the frequency of coronary-artery lesions (CAL) in children with Kawasaki disease (KD), in a randomized trial. All patients with KD received acetylsalicylic acid (30 mg/kg per day), until the 30th day, after the onset of fever, followed by daily acetylsalicylic acid at a dose of 3-5 mg/kg per day there-after, and intravenous IVGG, 200 mg/kg per day, for 5 consecutive days. In addition, patients randomly assigned to PTX and IVGG combination therapy groups received oral PTX at a dosage of 10 mg/kg per day (low-dose) or 20 mg/kg per day (high-dose), in three divided doses until the 30th day. Patients with KD were all free from CAL prior to treatment. We assessed the presence of CAL by two-dimensional echocardiography which was also done prior to treatment and then twice a week after hospital admission. We detected CAL in 3 of 18 patients (16.7%) in the IVGG therapy group, as compared with 2 of 18 patients (11.1%) in the low-dose PTX and IVGG combination therapy group. There were no significant differences between the two groups. In the next study, we detected CAL in 3 of 21 patients (14.3%) in the IVGG therapy group, as compared with none of 22 patients (0%) in the high-dose PTX and IVGG combination therapy group (χ2 = 6.4, P < 0.02). No adverse side-effects were observed in 79 patients with KD.
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Abbreviations
- CAL :
-
coronary-artery lesions
- IVGG :
-
intravenous infusions of gamma globulin
- KD :
-
Kawasaki disease
- PTX :
-
pentoxifylline
- TNFα :
-
tumour necrosis factor α
- TNF-R :
-
TNF receptor
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Furukawa, S., Matsubara, T., Ino, T. et al. Pentoxifylline and intravenous gamma globulin combination therapy for acute Kawasaki disease. Eur J Pediatr 153, 663–667 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02190688
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02190688