Kawasaki disease and its diagnosis

Mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome, or Kawasaki disease, is a febrile, exanthematous disease of children that has potentially fatal complications. The most important complication is the development of aneurysms in the coronary arteries, which may thrombose or occasionally, rupture and cause severe morbidity or death. Criteria for the diagnosis of Kawasaki disease have been developed that may help the clinician make the diagnosis and prevent complications. The major criteria include fever, skin eruption, ocular changes, oral changes, changes in the extremities, and lymphadenopathy. Prognosis may be evaluated by the clinical picture and cardiac work-up with echocardiogram.