Nagpur: Joint pains and swollen blood vessels are not conditions that are associated with children. Some rheumatic diseases among kids are so severe that they can affect the functioning of the vital organs, including heart.
Providing timely diagnosis and treatment for these diseases can help bring down the coronary heart disease burden among kids, say experts. City paediatricians got a lesson in dealing with rheumatic diseases in kids during a CME on the topic organized jointly by the city and state chapters of Indian Academy of Paediatrics.
Faculty for the event included head of rheumatology department of PGI Chandigarh Dr Surjit Singh, head of rheumatology department of New Delhi’s Sir Gangaram Hospital Dr Sujata Sawhney, city-based rheumatologist Dr Milind Aurangabadkar, paediatrician Dr Girish Subramanian and paediatric orthopedician Dr Viraj Shingade.
“The group of diseases that cause swelling and rupture of the blood vessels are known as vasculitis. Among the more common of these diseases that are seen in Indian kids is Kawasaki disease,” informed president of IAP Nagpur Dr RG Patil.
“If the patient does not receive correct treatment in time, the functions of all his vital organs including eyes, brain and heart are affected and it can prove to fatal as well,” added secretary of IAP Nagpur Dr Girish Charde.
Diagnosis of Kawasaki disease can be tricky as there are no lab tests to ascertain the condition, informed Dr Singh. “Fortunately, the symptoms of the disease are distinct enough for a well versed physician to identify it. The disease itself was first identified only as late as 1967 by Japanese physician Tomisaku Kawasaki, and its only in the last two decades that we have been able to identify it among Indian kids. While in Japan 1% of the kids get it before turning 10, we see not more than 40 kids in a year with the condition in a centre like PGI, Chandigarh,” he said. There is no statistical database to tell us exactly how common the disease is in our country but more awareness about it is leading to more number of cases being picked up, he added.
“It is important that while diagnosing the disease, a doctor must ensure that it is not another disease with mimicking symptoms. At the same time, we must remember that around one-third of the patients of the disease who do not receive treatment end up developing coronary heart disease. This means that we may be able to reduce the number of children in the country suffering from coronary heart diseases by working towards identifying and treating vasculitis well,” said Dr Sawhney.
Dr Subramanian stressed on the importance of parents being alert in any episode of fever, cold or flu among kids as it could result in severe complications if the reason behind it is conditions like rheumatic fever which are becoming increasingly common in India.