Renal histology of mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome (Kawasaki disease)

Renal involvement is well described in patients with mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome (MCLNS), or Kawasaki disease and is manifested by mild azotemia, hematuria, pyuria or cylinduria, and more often, proteinuria. Renal morphology during the acute stages of the illness has never been reported. In this paper we describe the renal histopathologic changes in a child with MCLNS. The glomerular histopathologic findings suggest immune complex damage to the kidney as a possible mechanism of nephrotoxicity in MCLNS. Presence of kidney lesions, which speak in favor of the injurious role of immune complexes in MLCNS may be relevant to the understanding of the pathogenesis of the vascular lesions that are characteristic of this disease.