Gastrointestinal involvement in Kawasaki disease: a case report

Abstract

AbstractKawasaki disease is an acute febrile multisystem vasculitis. The term Incomplete Kawasaki disease is used in the presence of a minimum of two diagnostic criteria of clinical Kawasaki syndrome accompanied by at least 5 days of fever, the absence of any other reasons characterising the disease, and the presence of severe systemic inflammation findings. Gastrointestinal symptoms, notably diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and vomiting, frequently occur, and elevated serum aminotransferases, gallbladder hydrops, and rarely other forms of gastrointestinal involvement such as ischaemic colitis, intussusception, hepatic necrosis, splenic infarct, intestinal pseudo-obstruction, colitis, and colon oedema are also reported. In this paper, we present an incomplete and atypical Kawasaki case that explicitly shows gastrointestinal involvement. Progressive bowel oedema was detected in the patient presenting with severe abdominal pain and distension. We determined an aneurysm in the right coronary artery and diffuse dilatation in the left main coronary artery despite administration of early intravenous immunoglobulin. In addition to the cardiac problem, hypoalbuminaemia, electrolyte imbalance, sterile pyuria, hepatosplenomegaly, and hydrops of the gallbladder were observed in the case. All findings, including progressive bowel oedema accompanying abdominal distension, improved markedly after the second dose of intravenous immunoglobulin.