KAWASAKI SYNDROME

Abstract

Kawasaki syndrome is an acute multisystem inflammatory disease of young children first described by Tomasaku Kawasaki in the Japanese literature in 1967. He reported 50 cases of this entity under the rubric of acute febrile mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome, a designation that has more recently been superseded by the eponym Kawasaki syndrome. The disorder was further delineated and brought to the attention of American pediatricians in 1974. Recognition of the syndrome followed rapidly, and Melish, Hicks and Larson published the first series of American cases from Hawaii in 1976. Subsequently, Kawasaki syndrome has been documented worldwide. Although the disorder is known to be a systemic vasculitis with predilection for the coronary arteries, the etiology has remained obscure despite intense investigative efforts.