Objective In this article, we aimed to evaluate the clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings and outcomes of patients treated with corticosteroids and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) with the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in two centers in Bursa, Turkey.

Methods We retrospectively collected the clinical characteristics, laboratory results, and treatment outcomes of MIS-C cases treated in two centers from April 2020 to February 2021. Patients were compared both according to their clinical categorization and the place they were hospitalized in, as well as with studies published in the literature.

Results Fifty-six patients were included. Thirty-six (64.3%) were male with a mean age of 67.95 ± 50.87 months. Thirty patients (53.5%) were categorized as Kawasaki-like disease, 17 (30.3%) sepsis-like disease, and 9 (16%) were toxic shock syndrome (TSS). Admission symptoms were fever (100%), rash (71.4%), myalgia (69.6%), and abdominal pain (62.5%). Seventeen (30.3%) patients were hospitalized in pediatric intensive care unit. Elevated C-reactive protein levels, procalcitonin, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, D-dimer, and troponin were found in 100, 77, 84, 84, and 23.2% of the patients, respectively. Of all, 55 (98.2%) received IVIG, 54 (96.4%) corticosteroids, 56 (100%) antibiotic therapy, 22 (40%) albumin infusion, and 13 (23.2%) inotropic support. Fifty patients (89.3%) received low-molecular-weight heparin: enoxaparin, followed by acetylsalicylic acid treatment. Only one patient who was resistant to both IVIG and steroid treatment received Anakinra. One patient (1.7%) with TSS died within 1 hour of hospitalization.

Conclusion Combined use of IVIG and corticosteroids is an effective way of treatment in MIS-C patients resulting in low mortality.

Concept: S.E.B.; E.T.; design: S.E.B., E.T.; supervision: E.T., H.A.; materials: S.E., B.A.; data collection and/or processing: S.E., B.A., E.K., E.Y., S.S.; analysis and/or interpretation: E.T.; literature review: S.E.B., E.T.; writing: S.E.B.; critical review: E.Y., E.K., S.S.

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Received: 09 December 2021

Accepted: 22 February 2022

Publication Date:
17 May 2022 (online)

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