Kawasaki disease: five-year experience at Children's National Medical Center.

Kawasaki Disease (KD) is an acute multisystem disease that predominately affects infants and children. Coronary artery aneurysms or ectasia may develop in 15-25% of children with the disease and may lead to myocardial infarction or sudden death. Head and neck manifestations are often the presenting symptoms, thus the otolaryngologist may be asked to evaluate a child early in the course of the disease. Otolaryngologist need to be familiar with the early symptoms of this disease so that prompt diagnosis may be made and appropriate therapy instituted. Recent therapeutic advances have been shown to be effective in reducing the prevalence of coronary artery abnormalities. The authors retrospectively reviewed cases of KD seen at Children's National Medical Center over a 5-year period. Sixty-nine cases were included in the reviews and all children exhibited head and neck manifestations upon admission. Our data and review of the relevant literature underscore the need for heightened awareness among our profession in regards to KD.