Long-term prognostic impact of dobutamine stress echocardiography in patients with Kawasaki disease and coronary artery lesions: a 15-year follow-up study.

OBJECTIVES

This study sought to determine the prognostic value of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) over a 15-year follow-up for predicting cardiac events in adolescent Kawasaki disease (KD) patients with coronary artery lesions (CALs).

BACKGROUND

Although DSE is an established technique for the detection of coronary artery disease, its prognostic value to predict cardiac events in adolescent KD patients with CALs is unknown.

METHODS

Fifty-eight adolescent KD patients, including 36 patients with CALs documented by coronary angiography, and 22 patients with normal coronary arteries documented by echocardiography who underwent DSE were reviewed at initial testing (mean age: 13.6 years) and at 15 years' follow-up. Follow-up events were tabulated as major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) that included cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and revascularization.

RESULTS

During a mean follow-up of 14.7 years, there were 16 patients with MACEs (acute myocardial infarction: n = 1; old myocardial infarction: n = 7; coronary artery bypass grafting: n = 4; percutaneous coronary intervention: n = 4). Significant coronary artery disease (CAD) (>70% coronary stenosis) was detected in 31.0% of patients at initial testing and 42.1% at follow-up. However, there were no significant differences in wall motion score indices (WMSI) at peak DSE between initial testing and follow-up (p = 0.762). Five of 6 patients (85%) with false-positive DSE results (WMSI: ≥1.25) at initial testing, who had giant aneurysms without CAD, developed CAD with MACEs during follow-up. Cumulative event-free survival rate to 15 years was 25.0% in patients with WMSI ≥1.25 and 91.7% in patients with WMSI <1.25. Cox regression analysis showed the grade of peak WMSI at initial testing to be the only independent predictor of MACEs (relative risk: 3.28; 95% confidence interval: 1.73 to 6.20).

CONCLUSIONS

DSE provided independent prognostic information up to 15 years in adolescent KD survivors.