[Plasma exchange therapy for Kawasaki disease refractory to intravenous immunoglobulin].

Kawasaki disease (KD) causes coronary artery lesions (CALs) in 600 to 800 Japanese children each year. As part of our recent search for effective treatments for KD cases refractory to intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), we have tried plasma exchange therapy (PE) in approximately 130 cases since 1995 till now. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that PE was effective approach for the prevention of CALs (odds ratio 0.052, p = 0.0012). We concluded that PE was a safe, effective prophylactic measure against CALs. Thus, PE should be performed at an early stage of this disease, by 10 days after onset, for KD cases refractory to IVIG.