Abstract:

Objective To explore relationship between changes of  cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) and acute Kawasaki disease (KD), and to study abnormalities of electroencephalograms and lab results of KD patients with aseptic meningitis. Methods A total of 462 cases were collected while 35 patients among them once had lumbar puncture. Aseptic meningitis was diagnosed according to white blood cell count in CSF while coronary artery expansion was confirmed on the basis of the diameters. Electroencephalograms of the patients with aseptic meningitis were analyzed, and laboratory indexes were compared between aseptic meningitis group and white blood cell count normal group, and between coronary artery expansion group and coronary artery non-expansion group. Results Thirty-one children were finally involved in this study. Seven children (22.6%) had high white blood cell count including 4 children combined with abnormal electroencephalogram, while 8 (26.7%) children had coronary artery expansion. Compared to white blood cell count normal group, there was significantly higher white blood cell count in aseptic meningitis group (P=0.029), whereas no significant differences were found among other laboratory indexes (P>0.05). And similar findings were found between coronary artery expansion group and coronary artery non-expansion group (P>0.05). Conclusion The results suggested that KD patients with aseptic meningitis commonly had abnormal electroencephalogram, and high white blood cell count might be a hint for aseptic meningitis.

Key words: Kawasaki disease, cerebro-spinal fluid, electroencephalogram, aseptic meningitis