Kawasaki Disease: An Autopsy Case Series and Review of the Literature.
BACKGROUND
Kawasaki disease (KD) is a major cause of acquired heart disease in children, and there is limited information on postmortem findings in the pediatric population in Canada.


METHODS
For a 15-year time span (January 2000-March 2015), we had 2 cases of KD presented to the Department of Forensic Pathology at Hamilton General Hospital.


CONCLUSIONS
There were common cardiac findings including presence of giant coronary artery aneurysms and microscopic changes occurring within the coronary arteries and the myocardium. Evidence of old infarction was present in both heart specimens, but acute infarction was noted in one of the specimens.


CONCLUSIONS
This case series documents postmortem findings that outline cardiac complications of KD including aneurysms, thrombotic events, and infarcts. In addition to addressing the medical complications of KD, it is also important to address the psychosocial effect due to its impact on quality of life.
From the *Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton; and †Hamilton General Hospital, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Hyemi Katherine
HK
Chang
John
J
Fernandes
Vidhya
V
Nair
D000293:Adolescent; D003323:Coronary Aneurysm / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology; D005355:Fibrosis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000473:pathology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology