A Clinical Trial for Kawasaki Disease – KD-CAAP

KD-CAAP stands for:

Kawasaki Disease – Coronary Artery Aneurysm Prevention

KD-CAAP is a clinical trial being run by doctors to find out whether adding another medicine, right at the start of a child’s treatment for Kawasaki Disease, will improve outcomes and reduce serious heart damage – compared to the standard treatment for Kawasaki Disease which children get today.

Coronary artery aneurysms – the serious heart damage Kawasaki Disease can cause – may occur when sections of the coronary artery which become weakened by inflammation during Kawasaki Disease, typically at the start of the illness. The coronary arteries are the vessels which provide the heart muscle with oxygenated blood. In children with Kawasaki Disease, these arteries can weaken and bulge or bubble, making that part of the artery wider, and blood flow can slow down. That could result in a blood clot forming – something which can be very serious indeed.

With a high proportion of children treated with the standard treatment for Kawasaki Disease still developing this serious heart damage, doctors have been looking at ways to improve the initial treatment children affected by Kawasaki Disease get – to reduce the number who go on to have life long serious complications affecting their heart.

The KD-CAAP trial is doing just that – investigating a possible way to prevent these coronary artery aneurysms.

Researching better treatments for Kawasaki Disease – KD-CAAP

In the UK and across Europe, the standard treatment for Kawasaki Disease is: IVIG + aspirin

IVIG stands for intravenous immunoglobulin, which is a powerful treatment using a substance made from donated blood. When treating Kawasaki Disease, aspirin is also given and this is at a high dose (compared to the dose you might take for a headache, for example). Both these treatments work to quickly to reduce the inflammation Kawasaki Disease causes.

Our KD-CAAP trial will select children at random to receive two different treatments so they can be compared:

Half will receive the standard treatment: IVIG + aspirin

Half will receive standard treatment and one additional medicine, a steroid – so they will have: IVIG + aspirin + corticosteroid

Corticosteroids (often described just as ‘steroids’) are a highly proven and commonly used treatment which  reduces inflammation. They have a good safety record. Steroids are used in treatments for lots of conditions and often used treating children.

The result of the trial will help doctors to know if adding a steroid to standard treatment will lower the number of children with Kawasaki Disease who will get serious, lifelong heart damage.

If a family decides to get involved in the trial, they and their doctors will know which treatment they receive between the two treatment options.  This is what is called an open-label trial.

If you are taking part, or thinking about taking part in this trial — or if you are an interested member of the public, you can find out more information about it here. Click on the links below to find out more.

What is KD-CAAP?

Kawasaki Disease Coronary Artery Aneurysm Prevention trial, or KD-CAAP is the name of a clinical trial which has been designed by doctors to see if we can find better treatment for Kawasaki Disease in children, when they are first ill.  Click here to find out more.

 

Understanding the KD-CAAP Clinical Trial

Here you will find a summary of trial details including information on types of people who are taking part (participants), what medicines we are using in the trial (interventions), what we are trying to find out (hypothesis), how we will know if we have been successful (outcome measures) and more. Click here to find out more.

KD-CAAP  Information for Families

A range of helpful information, leaflets and many more resources are available for you is you are taking part in the trial. If there’s something that you’re looking for that you don’t find in these pages, contact us and we will help if we can!  Click here to find out more.

 

KD-CAAP Trial Centres

Use our interactive map to see all the places which are taking part in our trial, right across the UK and throughout Europe too. You can see the site status – if they are recruiting (taking patients into the trial) yet and see the vast number of hospitals who are working together to find better treatments for children affected by Kawasaki Disease. We are hugely grateful to every single hospital taking part.  Click here to find out more.

 

KD-CAAP and Your Data

Find out how the information you give and data you share, if you take part in the trial will be securely collected and carefully processed, in line with all legal data protection requirements for your country. Click here to find out more.

 

Family Resource Portal

Our Family Resource Portal is designed to help families who have recently been affected by Kawasaki Disease. We’re really proud that it’s an award winning patient information resource – as recognised by the British Medical Association! There are lots resources in our parent portal including downloadable information, videos and more to help you understand what a Kawasaki Disease diagnosis might mean for you and your child.  Click here to find out more.

My Societi Youth Portal

My Societi is an online information portal designed by young people, backed by doctors and created specifically for young people who have been affected by Kawasaki Disease. The portal launched in January 2021 and includes videos, downloadable information, blogs, vlogs and more – so that young people can get the answers they need to their questions about Kawasaki Disease. Developed with support from expert doctors, it is an online resource young people, parents and carers can trust. Click here to find out more.