Comparative safety and efficacy of two immune globulin products in Kawasaki disease.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the safety and efficacy of various intravenously administered immune globulin (IVGG) products in patients with Kawasaki disease. METHODS: We performed a retrospective matched-pair study of 45 pairs of patients, matched by age, gender, hospital, and illness day when IVGG therapy was initiated. All patients received aspirin, 80 to 100 mg/kg per day; one of each pair received Venoglobulin, 2 gm/kg (product A), and the other received Iveegam, 2 gm/kg (product B). Safety was assessed during and after IVGG infusion by recording rigors, pruritus, hypotension, urticaria, and nausea. Treatment efficacy was evaluated by posttreatment height and duration of fever, and subsequent echocardiographic changes. RESULTS: Untoward reactions during infusions occurred more often with product A (25%) than with product B (2%) (p < 0.025); most reactions were rigors (18% vs 2%) (p < 0.05). Therapy was completed in all patients. Height of fever and proportion of patients febrile each day after product A or B did not differ significantly. No differences were found in the frequency of coronary artery abnormalities 1 year after illness. CONCLUSIONS: No significant differences in efficacy appeared between the two IVGG products, but they differed significantly in non-life-threatening adverse reactions, especially infusion-related rigors. Other IVGG products should be evaluated in a similar fashion.

Kawasaki disease in infants less than one year of age.

OBJECTIVE: To identify risk factors for severe sequelae, analyze disease characteristics, and assess efficacy of intravenously administered immune globulin (IVGG) therapy in infants less than 12 months of age with Kawasaki disease. DESIGN: Retrospective chart review of children less than 12 months of age with Kawasaki disease between 1980 and 1993. RESULTS: Of 443 patients with Kawasaki disease, 57 (13%) were less than 1 year of age, including 14 (3%) less than 6 months. Age at onset was a predictor of the development of coronary artery aneurysms (CAA) and of giant (> 8 mm) aneurysms: 11 (79%) of 14 children < 6 months and 17 (44%) of 39 children 6 to 12 months of age acquired CAA (p = 0.06), and 5 (37%) of 14 children < 6 months and 2 (5%) of 39 children 6 to 12 months of age acquired giant CAA (p < 0.01). No specific clinical or laboratory features predicted the development of CAA, which was found in 7 (29%) of 24 patients treated with IVGG by illness day 10 and in 21 (73%) of 29 patients treated after day 10 or never treated with IVGG (p < 0.01). Only 1 (4%) of 24 patients treated by day 10 but 6 (21%) of 29 children treated after day 10 or never treated with IVGG acquired giant CAA (p = 0.01). Persistent (> 1 year) CAA were present in 4 (17%) of 24 IVGG-treated children by day 10 and in 14 (48%) of 29 children not treated by day 10 or never treated with IVGG (p < 0.025). There was no difference in outcome if IVGG was given by illness day 7 or on illness days 8 to 10. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with Kawasaki disease less than 6 months of age are at particularly increased risk of having CAA and giant CAA. Therapy with IVGG, given by illness day 10, is associated with substantial reduction in the frequency of CAA and giant CAA in this high-risk population.

The photodynamic effect of rose bengal on proteins of the mitochondrial inner membrane.

Photodynamic action promoted by Rose Bengal was evaluated in solutions of unsaturated fatty acids or histidine, and on beef heart submitochondrial particles. Rose Bengal-promoted photooxidation of histidine was mainly due to the opening up of the imidazole ring by singlet oxygen. Photosensitization of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) resulted in oxygen consumption and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) formation, the extent of which was linearly related to the increasing degree of unsaturation. Photosensitization of submitochondrial particles caused oxygen consumption and TBARS production. These processes involved two different reaction components: during the first, most of the mitochondrial proteins were inactivated, the most sensitive being succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome c. The values for the rate ratios of [TBARS] formation/[O2] consumption for the first and second phase were 0.36 and 1.32%, respectively, pointing to a larger contribution of lipid peroxidation during the second phase. The calculation of the rate constants for reaction of singlet oxygen with mitochondrial proteins suggests that singlet oxygen is more reactive towards proteins than to PUFA. The biological role of this selectivity is discussed in terms of the mitochondria as one of the first targets for photosensitized reactions.