Hydrogen Gas Helps Heal Heart Damage in Kawasaki Disease Patient
- Authors
- Ho-Chang Kuo
- Journal
- Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
- Year
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.3389/fcvm.2022.895627
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Taiwan
- Health Condition
- Kawasaki Disease
- Body System
- Cardiovascular
TL;DR
Breathing in hydrogen gas helped a child's heart artery swelling caused by Kawasaki disease shrink back to normal size without any other health issues.
Key Finding
A coronary artery aneurysm in a Kawasaki disease patient completely regressed to normal size within 4 months when hydrogen gas inhalation was used alongside standard immunoglobulin therapy.
Summary
This report describes a 10-year-old child with Kawasaki disease (a rare inflammatory condition affecting blood vessels) who had a bulging aneurysm in a heart artery. After receiving standard treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin, the child's family used hydrogen gas inhalation at home for one hour daily. Four months later, the aneurysm had completely shrunk back to normal size. The authors suggest hydrogen's antioxidant properties (ability to neutralize harmful molecules) may have helped, but emphasize that more research is needed to confirm this.
Practical Takeaway
This is a single case report, not a controlled study, so it cannot prove hydrogen gas caused the improvement—the standard immunoglobulin treatment or natural disease progression may have been responsible. While the case is intriguing, much larger and more rigorous studies would be needed before hydrogen inhalation could be considered a reliable treatment for Kawasaki disease aneurysms. Anyone with Kawasaki disease should follow their cardiologist's established treatment protocols.
Abstract
Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic vasculitis that primarily affects children under the age of 5 years old and is among the most common acquired heart disease in developed countries, particularly in Asia. No effective treatment is currently available for aneurysm formation in KD. In this report, we showed a KD patient with an aneurysm over the right coronary artery with a size of 6.08 mm in diameter and 35 mm in length, which completely regressed to within normal range after hydrogen inhalation within 4 months after disease onset. This 10-year-old KD patient was diagnosed on the 12th day of disease onset with incomplete presentation of KD symptoms. Intravenous immunoglobulin was prescribed after KD diagnosis was confirmed by the formation of a coronary artery aneurysm. Once discharged from the hospital, the family used hydrogen inhalation (77% hydrogen and 23% oxygen) at home with nasal cannula 1 h per day. The aneurysm was found to be completely regressed at the 4-month follow-up (day 138 of the illness). The follow-up laboratory data showed complete blood cell count, differential count, electrolytes, liver enzyme, and renal function to all be within normal range. This is the first study to report an aneurysm from KD with regression under supplementary therapy with hydrogen gas inhalation and no other complications. Therefore, hydrogen gas inhalation may be an alternative anti-free radical or anti-oxidant therapy for KD, but further study is still required.