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Intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) plus aspirin reduces the risk for coronary artery disease in patients with uncomplicated, acute Kawasaki disease (KD). The use of steroids in patients with complicated disease has led to speculation that steroids should become part of routine therapy. In a U.S. multisite, double-blind, clinical trial, researchers randomized 199 patients with KD and fever for ≤10 days to receive a single pulsed dose of IV methylprednisolone (30 mg/kg) or placebo added to conventional therapy with IVIG (2 g/kg) and aspirin (80–100 mg/kg/day).
At week 1 and week 5, no differences were noted between groups in any measure of coronary disease, including changes in dimensions of the left anterior descending and right coronary arte…