[Natural history of Kawasaki disease vasculitis].

Kawasaki disease is an acute vasculits syndrome of unknown etiology, which mainly affects small and medium arteries particularly coronary arteries in infants and young children. The cardiovascular problems include coronary artery lesions that develop the aneurysm formation, thrombotic occlusion, progression to coronary artery disease, and pre- mature atherosclerosis. However, the long-term consequences of these cardiovascular problems are still uncertain. In this article the long-term spectrums of Kawasaki disease vasculitis are described by our long-term follow-up study of 2,450 patients from clinical and pathological aspects. We like to emphasize that the long-term cardiovascular prob- lems are important issues not only in children but also in adulthood.