Complications of Kawasaki disease

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With or without treatment, most children make a full recovery but complications may arise in some cases. With early treatment, complications are much less likely to develop. Without treatment, about 1 in 5 children develop inflammation of the blood vessels to the heart (vasculitis). This can cause ballooning of a section of an artery (an aneurysm).

This means that the wall of an aneurysm is weakened and significant problems may develop in some children. The most serious is a thrombosis (clot) developing in the aneurysm and damaging the heart (a heart attack). Without treatment, about 1 in 100 children with Kawasaki disease die of heart problems.

In most cases, however, an aneurysm causes no symptoms and may heal in 1-2 years (the amount of healing depends on the amount of damage). The vessel walls never completely return to normal, as they thicken during the healing process. This may cause heart problems in later life.