Open Access
ARTICLE
Kawasaki disease: State of the art
Jane W. Newburger
Department of Cardiology, Boston
Children’s Hospital, Department of
Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston,
Massachusetts
* Corresponding Author: Jane W. Newburger, MD, MPH, Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02468. Email:
Congenital Heart Disease 2017, 12(5), 633-635. https://doi.org/10.1111/chd.12498
Abstract
Kawasaki disease is an acute febrile arteritis of childhood that can result in coronary artery aneurysms if untreated in the first 10 and ideally 7 days of illness. Kawasaki disease begins as a
necrotizing arteritis with neutrophilic infiltrate, followed by subacute/chronic changes and luminal
myofibroblastic proliferation that can cause coronary artery stenosis. Manifestations include the
presence of ≥5 days of fever, together with clinical criteria of extremity changes, rash, conjunctivitis, oral changes, and unilateral cervical lymphadenopathy. Echocardiography should be performed
at the time of diagnosis, then 1–2 weeks and 4–6 weeks later, with more frequent studies in individuals with coronary artery dilation or persistent fever. Coronary artery dimensions are
characterized both as z-scores and absolute measurements, and coronary architecture evolves
over time in children who have aneurysms in the first weeks of illness. Systematic follow-up and
therapies are tailored to the degree of coronary disease and to coronary ischemia.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Newburger, J. W. (2017). Kawasaki disease: State of the art.
Congenital Heart Disease, 12(5), 633–635.