All issues > Volume 31(3); 1988

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1988;31(3):348-354. Published online March 31, 1988.

Abdominal Ultrasonographic Findings in Patients with Kawasaki Disease.

Ho Taek Kim¹, Chang Ho Hong¹, Chul Lee¹, Sung Kyu Lee¹, Pyung Kil Kim¹, Ki Kun Oh²

¹Departments of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Received: October 30, 1987;

Abstract

Kawasaki disease, first reported in Korea in 1973, is now one of the disease commonly encountered in pediatric age group. It presents systemic symptoms including abdominal ones such as pain, nausea and vomiting, etc. There have been several case reports of hydrops of the gallbladder occuring concurrently with Kawasaki disease, and the abdominal symptoms of the disease are known to correlate with hydrops of the gallbladder. Hydrops of the gallbladder is a disease which can be diagnosed with ultrasonographic scans. We assessed the incidence of hydrops of the gallbladder in patients with Kawasaki disease using abdominal ultrasonography, and tried to correlate the size of the gallbladder and the presence of abdominal symptoms. The results are as follows: 1) The abnormal findings found in abdominal ultrasonography were hepatomegaly in 75% of the cases, splenomegaly in 57.1%, pericholecystic halo in 21.4%, and enlargement of the gallbladder, 17. 9%. The criterion for an enlarged gallbladder was a length of 5 cm or greater in the long axis of the gallbladder. 2) The leukocyte and platelet counts of patients with enlarged gallbladder were compared with those of patients without enlarged gallbladders, and there were no statistical significances between them. 3) The size of gallbladder was evaluated with reference to the presence of abdominal symptoms and the elevation of transaminase levels, and only in patients who complained of abdominal pain was the long axis of the gallbladder longer than in those without abdominal symptoms. This was statistically significant. 4) The relationship between age and the incidence of gallbladder enlargement was studied, but there were no statistically significant differences.

Keywords :Kawasaki disease, Hydrops of gallbladder, Abdominal ultrasonography