[Kawasaki syndrome. Clinical report of 5 cases]

The paper reports five cases of Kawasaki's syndrome diagnosed during the period 1985-89. The mean age of patients was 20 months (4/12; 4 years and 5/12). Symptomatology gradually regressed in four of these patients with a return to good health and normal cardiological controls. The fifth patient died suddenly following a cardiorespiratory failure when his general conditions were showing a marked improvement. Given that cardiac involvement is reported to be the sole cause of death in Kawasaki's syndrome, this was probably the cause of the patient's death. This event together with the presence of a number of barely symptomatic forms, which certainly escape correct diagnosis, may explain some of the cases of sudden death in early childhood. In the present case the child died suddenly due to an early stage of heart failure on awakening and may be considered a classic example of "cot death". Although the treatment protocol is well defined, it is not yet known to what extent the cardio-vascular apparatus is influenced by therapy in cases of children with Kawasaki's syndrome.