Myocardial Contractile Reserve Impairment in Patients with Kawasaki Disease During Convalescent Phase: A Study Based on Two-Dimensional Speckle-Tracking Stress Echocardiography.

Persistent myocardial impairment proved by histopathologic studies universally existed in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD); however, the long-term effects on myocardial contractile reserve in KD patients, especially on patients without coronary artery lesions (CALs), is still unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate myocardial contractile reserve in KD patients during late convalescent stage by speckle-tracking adenosine triphosphate (AT) echocardiography. A total of 63 antecedent KD patients at least 4 years after the disease onset and 40 age- and gender-matched normal controls were prospectively enrolled.