In a breakthrough in the management of cardiac ailments in Kawasaki disease, a team of doctors led by Saji Philip, paediatric cardiologist at St.. Gregorios Cardio-Vasular Centre at Parumala near Thiruvalla, have found that adding vitamins A, C and E to the existing gold standard treatment of intravenous immunoglobulin and aspirin therapy would reduce coronary artery inflammation, further reducing the incidence of myocardial infarction in children.
Talking to The Hindu , Dr. Philip, who is also the KD Foundation of India secretary-general, said his medical team had done the different stages of its research work at the National Taiwan University, Animal Technology Institute in Taipei, and at the Animal Farm at Mediville in Chennai.
According to him, Kawasaki disease is believed to be the commonest vasculitic disorder found in children. Its incidence rate reported in Japan is as high as 60-150 in every 1,00,000 children below the age of five years.
As in many other developing countries, a majority of children with Kawasaki disease continued to remain undiagnosed in India too, he said.
Dr. Philip said health education on Kawasaki disease was very important since it produced fatal coronary artery disease in kids, if not treated within 20 days of acute illness.
He said features of the disease could be confused with other common conditions like, measles fever, scarlet fever and the Stevens-Johnson Syndrome.
Development of coronary artery abnormalities (CAA) is the hallmark of Kawasaki disease and it accounted for most of the morbidity and mortality associated with the disease. Prompt recognition of the disease and early treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin results in significant reduction in the occurrence of CAA, he said.
Animal models
Dr. Philip said animal models were essential for Kawasaki disease research and an ideal model was first established in swine in 2004 by his own team.
Studies in animals and humans showed that antioxidants played a significant role in the reduction of cardiovascular diseases. In olden days, vitamins were added to all treatment and there was a reason behind it, he said.
Dr. Philip said his research team had given a trial of giving vitamins A, E, and C to treat immune complex vasculitis in the hope of mitigating coronary vasculitis due to Kawasaki disease and the result was very much promising as it produced no side effect at all.
