Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of Cardiac Biomarkers in Children with Kawasaki Disease: A State-of-the-Art Review

      Kawasaki disease (KD) is characterized as the leading cause of acquired cardiac disease in children. Accurate and timely diagnosis of KD is of high importance for preventing its cardiac complications. However, diagnosis merely based on clinical findings has a number of challenges and, limitations. Therefore, researchers are investigating to find more objective and accurate diagnostic modalities. Cardiac biomarkers, particularly N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), are the most acknowledged diagnostic biomarkers in this regard. Accordingly, this paper reviewed some recent and related studies to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each cardiac biomarker.