Two cases of Kawasaki disease with hidden neuroblastoma.

Abstract

Neuroblastoma is the third most common pediatric cancer and can mimic many other diseases. However, clinicians need to be aware about the possibility of neuroblastoma, when other more obvious clinical conditions such as the Kawasaki disease (KD) are present. KD is an acute febrile vasculitis of childhood with coronary complications. There were a few reports for autopsy of KD patients with neuroblastoma. A 2-y-old girl was admitted for definite KD with five clinical signs. Her fever did not respond to retreatment with intravenous high dose immunoglobulin. Later a chest computerized tomography scan revealed a mass lesion in the right lower lung field, and ultimately diagnosed as neuroblastoma on the paravertebral area of thoracic spine levels T4 to T10. The second patient was a 3-y-old boy who was diagnosed as incomplete KD with left coronary ectasia. His fever also did not respond to retreatment with immunoglobulin, and the abdominal computerized tomography scan with biopsy confirmed neuroblastoma of the right adrenal gland. We report two patients with KD who were additionally diagnosed as having neuroblastoma.