Kawasaki Kids Medical Corner by Dr. Pei-Ni Jone

Hi Everyone! We are introducing the medical corner of the Kawasaki Kids Foundation. Below are several of the research areas that we are currently working on at the Children’s Hospital Colorado:

1)Atrovastatin trial (statin) – this is a multi-center study to determine the best dose of atorvastatin in young children with acute Kawasaki Disease. We will then do a second study to see if this medication (commonly used in adults at high risk for heart disease) can reduce inflammation and the outcome of coronary artery dilation or aneurysms in children with Kawasaki Disease.

2)Heart function – we have recently presented at the American Heart Association on the heart function of patients with Kawasaki Disease to see if early detection of heart function could help us with detecting patients with coronary artery dilation.

3)Procalcitonin (PCT) research – PCT is a marker of inflammation in the body that can be measured by a blood test. We recently presented a study of the levels of PCT in children with Kawasaki Disease at the Infectious Disease Society of America national meeting. This study showed that PC T levels are elevated in patients with Kawasaki Disease and may help predict which patients will become very ill with the disease.

If you are interested in KD research, then please contact our team at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Dr. Samuel Dominguez will be giving a Kawasaki Disease Presentation to health care providers in Boulder on May 21, 2014 and Dr. Jone will be presenting at Northern Colorado Medical Center on May 23, 2014. Please meet our KD team at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Thank you for your interest!

Pei-Ni Jone, MD