Annual Meeting of Japanese Society of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery

【PURPOSE】To determine if there is aortic inflammation using flurdeoxy glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) in patients long after Kawasaki disease (KD).【METHODS】Subjects were patients with a history of KD, A, 17 patients with persistent coronary or systemic vascular aneurysms; group B, 8 patients with regressed coronary and systemic aneurysms. All subjects underwent FDG-PET and contrast x-ray computed tomography. We created fusion image of FDG-PET and CT using special software. FDG uptake was determined to quantify local vascular inflammation. FDG uptake of the ascending aorta, aortic arch, and descending aorta were measured and averaged. Based on medical chart, patients’ data were collected and were compared between groups and correlated with FDG uptake. 【RESULTS】We found that FDG uptake of the aorta in A was significantly higher than that in B (1.44 ± 0.28 vs. 1.11 ± 0.14, p ＜ 0.005) and this difference was significant at all segments of the aorta. FDG uptake positively correlated with the maximum size of coronary aneurysm at acute phase but inversely correlated with time after the onset of KD. FDG uptake in patients with cardiac event was significantly higher than those without cardiac event. There was no significant difference between groups in demographic variables and laboratory data except for blood pressure. 【COCLUSION】There is ongoing aortic inflammation in patients long after KD complicated by persistent arterial aneurysms. Further study is required to determine contributing factors and clinical meaning of this finding.