Kawasaki disease (KD) is a medium vessel vasculitis in pediatric patients with a predilection for coronary artery involvement. The disease can be complete or incomplete but generally consists of a fever longer than 5 days, bilateral conjunctivitis, rash, edema, cervical adenopathy, and mucosal involvement. Mainstay of therapy includes IV immunoglobulin and aspirin. The goal of this article is to identify recent research that focuses on the newest diagnostic tools, predictive factors for coronary involvement, and treatment failure, as well as the most recent literature on treatment.

New diagnostic tools have been described that help separate febrile children with KD by only using lab parameters rather than subjective, clinical findings. We explore recent publications on several factors that can predict coronary artery involvement in Kawasaki disease as well as IV immunoglobulin (IVIG) failure including biomarkers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), genetic variants, male sex, and myocardial strain imaging.

Early suspicion and recognition of Kawasaki disease are essential for timely treatment so that devastating cardiovascular complications can be prevented. Further research is needed to develop and validate predictive models that can be used clinically to diagnose our pediatric population, identify patients at higher risk for coronary involvement, and identify those at risk for treatment failure.