Abstract
There are no specific therapies for Kawasaki disease patients, because the causes of the disease have not been identified. Currently, treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (2 g/kg single infusion) plus aspirin (30 mg/kg/day) is considered the standard therapy. However, 20 % of patients do not become afebrile despite completion of intravenous immunoglobulin therapy. These intravenous immunoglobulin nonresponders are considered to be at high risk for coronary artery lesions. Recent clinical trials indicate a combined regimen of prednisolone and intravenous immunoglobulin is effective, especially for patients at high risk for nonresponse to initial intravenous immunoglobulin treatment. Although reproducibility and generalizability have been confirmed, prednisolone therapy should be an option for Kawasaki disease patients.
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Kobayashi, T. (2017). Prednisolone. In: Saji, B., Newburger, J., Burns, J., Takahashi, M. (eds) Kawasaki Disease. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56039-5_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56039-5_19
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