Kawasaki Disease: 2D Echocardiography and a Healthy Heart

Ask anyone who has been through Kawasaki Disease and they will tell you that the most frequent medical tests that a patient will have to get are blood tests and a 2D echo. As the effects of Kawasaki are usually on the coronary arteries, doctors will usually order several 2D echo tests over time just to make sure that a patient's heart is okay.

In Ali's case, she had 2 2D echos while confined in the hospital; three after that, in the six months that followed and recently, she had another one done. In December 2004, all of Ali's 2D echo test results were normal and she was finally "cleared" by her Kawasaki doctor. Recently though, there has been an increase in the number of Kawasaki cases again and as a precautionary measure, our doctor asked us to do another check as it has been more than a year since June 2004 which was when Kawasaki struck.

Thankfully, Ali's test results are again normal. There are still a lot of unknown things about the disease and our doctor says she will just update us of new learnings or findings as they come. But she says that some of her former patients commonly complain of leg pain even now -- just like Ali. Would that be due to Kawasaki? Your guess is as good as our doctor's.

Anyway, if you are looking to do a 2D echo and are in the Quezon City or Ortigas area, here are some information (data was obtained as of November 2005) which you may find helpful:

St. Luke's Medical Center: P5,184 for both adult and child. A pediatric cardiologist will do the procedure and his fee is already included in the price. (Call 727-54-05)

Medical City: P5,120 for adults and P5,110 for children. A specialist will also do the test. (Call 635-67-89)

Cardinal Santos: P2,987 (with doppler) and P2,266 without. A technician will do the test. If you want a specialist to do it, you can call and inquire about the sked and if there will be additional fees. (Call 727-00-01).

For an update on pricing and other details re 2D echocardiograms, you can read a more recent post entitled: Of 2D Echocardiograms and Mitral Valve Prolapse.

You will have to call for an appointment. In the case of Cardinal Santos, I've had a 2D echo done there (done by a technician) and when you have an appointment, they are punctual. For the rest, if you are dealing with doctors or specialists, even with an appointment, allow for some wait. These are doctors who need to see patients in ICU, do the rounds, etc., etc. In our case, our wait has ranged from 30 minutes to more than an hour at both St. Luke's and Medical City. In Ali's case, we prefer to have a specialist do the test as we will need to specify that she has had Kawasaki.

All of the above hospitals will release the results two days after.

In case you suspect that your child has Kawasaki and are in search of a doctor, we highly recommend our doctor who is St. Luke's based: Dr. Imelda Asetre-Luna. She is at Rm 436 of the Medical Arts Building and her clinic hours are on: MWF 2-6pm and Saturday 9am-12pm. You may reach her clinic at 723-03-01 local 6436.

Doctors are not the type to openly and directly promote their services given the nature of their work. I just felt like putting this in here as I know how frustrating Kawasaki can be and how you need a good, responsive, attentive, and efficient doctor during such times. If that's the kind of doctor you need, you may want to consider calling Dra. Luna.

May our hearts always be healthy. =)