AHA releases new guidelines for treatment of rare heart disease in children

A new statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) provides recommendations for diagnosing and treating Kawasaki disease, a rare heart disease found in young children.

The guidelines, published in Circulation, outline that the disease can result from the body mounting an extreme immune response, especially in children that are predisposed to developing it. There are about 4,000 cases of the disease in the U.S. each year, according to the Kawasaki Disease Foundation.

“We think that Kawasaki disease is related to some sort of infectious or environmental trigger that causes a huge immune response,” said Brian W. McCrindle, MD, a cardiologist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, who led the panel that wrote the statement. “We don’t know exactly what the trigger is.”

The AHA recommends that treatment include an infusion of antibodies given within 10 days of the onset of symptoms. Data showed that the infusion usually decreases the risk of coronary artery aneurysms. The AHA also recommends aspirin to reduce the risk of blood clots.

“It is important to educate the public as well as medical professionals about the signs and symptoms of Kawasaki disease because if there isn’t a timely diagnosis and treatment, the chances of long-term heart damage is greater,” said Kathryn Taubert, PhD, vice president of global strategies at the AHA, who helped develop the organization’s Kawasaki disease guidelines published in 2004. She did not participate in drafting the new statement, though.

Education on the disease should remain a priority, the AHA says, because with proper diagnosis and treatments in place, the chances of the disease becoming severe could be prevented.