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Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic vasculitis; surprisingly, corticosteroids, shown to be beneficial in other vasculitides, do not benefit patients with KD and even increase aneurysm formation. Nevertheless, certain centers in Japan have continued to treat some patients with KD using corticosteroids.
These authors reviewed the treatment and outcome of 299 cases of KD treated at 1 Japanese institution from 1982 through 1998. With no prospective protocol, patients were treated according to 1 of 4 regimens. All patients received aspirin, dipyridamole, and propanolol; in addition, some were given IVIG (200 or 400 mg/kg daily) for 5 consecutive days, and some received prednisolone (2 mg/kg daily) until resolution of the fever, after which therap…