Features and consequences of coronary artery lesions in Kawasaki disease

Abstract

Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute systemic vasculitis with frequent coronary artery involvement that occurs almost exclusively in children. Children who have recovered from this pathology have now entered adulthood, and cardiologists are increasingly confronted with adult patients who have long-term consequences of CD. The most serious manifestation of CD is damage to the coronary arteries with the formation of both organic (aneurysm) and functional (endothelial dysfunction) disorders, which further predisposes to a high likelihood of arterial stenosis and thrombosis. The review provides information on the nature of coronary artery disease in CD and the possible long-term consequences of this lesion in adult patients.