Detection of coronary artery stenosis in children with Kawasaki disease. Usefulness of pharmacologic stress 201Tl myocardial tomography.

This study determined the feasibility and accuracy of quantitative 201Tl myocardial single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) after dipyridamole infusion to detect coronary obstructive lesions in children with Kawasaki disease. 201Tl distribution after dipyridamole infusion was measured in 23 normal children, and with these normal values, quantitative analysis of SPECT was performed in 49 patients. Thirty-four patients had coronary stenosis 90% or greater on angiograms. Side effects resulting from systemic vasodilation were observed in about 70%. Angina pectoris and ischemic ST changes were observed only in patients with coronary stenosis. These symptoms disappeared after aminophylline infusion. Results of visual and quantitative analysis of SPECT were compared. SPECT data were shown on two-dimensional polar maps, and the extent and severity scores were calculated. The sensitivity of SPECT for detection of overall coronary stenosis was 91% (visual analysis) and 88% (quantitative analysis). The specificity of SPECT was 60% visually and 93% quantitatively. The sensitivity of quantitative analysis to detect individual coronary stenosis was similar to that of visual analysis. However, the specificity of visual analysis to detect individual coronary artery stenosis was significantly less than that of quantitative analysis. From these data, we conclude that quantitative analysis of myocardial SPECT after dipyridamole infusion is a safe and accurate diagnostic method for identifying coronary stenosis in children with Kawasaki disease.