was a Japanese
pediatrician who first described the condition now known as
Kawasaki disease
Kawasaki disease is a syndrome of unknown cause that results in a fever and mainly affects children under 5 years of age. It is a form of vasculitis, where blood vessels become inflamed throughout the body. The fever typically lasts for more th ...
in the 1960s.
Alongside
rheumatic heart disease
Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful jo ...
, Kawasaki disease is considered to be the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children worldwide.
Early life and education
Tomisaku Kawasaki was born on 1 February 1925 in the
Asakusa
is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the .
History
The ...
district of
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
, as the youngest of seven children. He was "very interested in plants and fruit, and surprised to learn how the 20th-century pear had suddenly appeared", but eventually abandoned plans to study botany because his mother favored him to be a physician. He studied medicine at
Chiba University
is a national university in the city of Chiba, Japan. It offers Doctoral degrees in education as part of a coalition with Tokyo Gakugei University, Saitama University, and Yokohama National University. The university was formed in 1949 from e ...
, graduating in 1948.
Career
Kawasaki conducted his medical internship year in
Chiba and decided to specialize in
pediatrics, due to his fondness for children.
Medical residency
Residency or postgraduate training is specifically a stage of graduate medical education. It refers to a qualified physician (one who holds the degree of MD, DO, MBBS, MBChB), veterinarian ( DVM or VMD) , dentist ( DDS or DMD) or podiatrist ( ...
in
post-war Japan
Post-occupation Japan is the period in postwar Japanese history which started when the Allied occupation of Japan ended in 1952 and lasted to the end of the Showa era in 1989. Despite the massive devastation it suffered in the Second World War, ...
was unpaid and as his family suffered financial problems, his advisor recommended him take up a paid position at the
Japan Red Cross Medical Center in
Hiroo,
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
. He would later practice as a pediatrician there for over 40 years.
After 10 years of researching
milk allergy
Milk allergy is an adverse immune reaction to one or more proteins in cow's milk. Among the possible symptoms is anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening condition that requires treatment with Epinephrine (medication), epinephrine, among o ...
and unusual host-parasite cases, he saw a 4-year-old boy presenting with a myriad of clinical signs he later termed "acute febrile mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome" (MCLS) in 1961.
In 1962, he saw a second patient with the same constellation of symptoms. After he had collected a series of seven cases, he presented them at a meeting of the Japanese Pediatric Association. Reviewers rejected his submission for publication because they did not believe it was a new disease entity.
Opposition from several academics over the alleged discovery of the new disease lasted several years. Only after he had collected a total of 50 cases, his 44-page paper was published in the Japanese Journal of Allergy in 1967.
The paper included comprehensive hand-drawn diagrams of each patient's rashes and has been described as "one of the most beautiful examples of descriptive clinical writing".
Other colleagues across the country soon reported similar cases.
It was not until 1970, that the
Ministry of Health and Welfare eventually established a research committee on MCLS headed by Dr. Fumio Kosaki.
This committee conducted a nationwide study on the disease, confirming it was a new disease which specifically targeted
arteries
An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry oxygenated blood; the two exceptions are the pu ...
across the body.
In 1973, a pathologist discovered the connection to cardiac disease when he found a child with Kawasaki disease had coronary artery thrombosis at an autopsy.
Kawasaki headed the Kawasaki Disease Research Committee which published its findings in the journal, ''
Pediatrics'' finally in 1974;
He has been called "part
Sherlock Holmes and part
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
for his sense of mystery and his vivid descriptions".
It was the first time MCLS was published in English and brought international attention to the disease.
Kawasaki retired in 1990, and established the Japan Kawasaki Disease Research Center, which he led as director until 2019 and honorary chairman until 2020.
Only in 1992, Kawasaki disease was officially added to
Nelson's Textbook of Pediatrics, a leading textbook in the specialty, cementing international recognition of the disease.
In 2007, Kawasaki estimated over 200,000 cases of Kawasaki disease had been diagnosed in Japan since the research committee's findings in 1970.
Kawasaki himself never referred to the disease by its eponymous name but conceded that the original name was too long.
Personal life and death
Kawasaki was married to fellow pediatrician Reiko Kawasaki who died in 2019. He died on 5 June 2020 of natural causes at the age of 95 years old.
He was survived by his two daughters and a son. Obituaries paying tribute to Kawasaki were published in medical journals worldwide in the aftermath of his death.
Awards
*
Bering Kitasato Award, 1986
*
Medical Award, 1987
*Health Culture Award, 1987
*
Japan Medical Association
The (also known as JMA or ), is the largest professional association of licensed physicians in Japan. The JMA has been a member of the World Medical Association since 1951 and participates at all levels of the WMA. National headquarters are locat ...
Medical Award, 1988
*Asahi Prize, 1989
*Japan Academy Prize, 1991
*Tokyo Cultural Award, 1996
*Japan Pediatric Society Prize, 2006
*At some time prior to 2007, he had a personal audience with the
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
and
Empress of Japan
The Empress of Japan is the title given to the wife of the Emperor of Japan or a female ruler in her own right. In Japanese, the empress consort is called . The current empress consort is Empress Masako, who ascended the throne with her husband o ...
at the
Imperial Palace.
*Honored by the
Tokyo Metropolitan Government
The is the government of the Tokyo Metropolis. One of the 56 prefectures of Japan, the government consists of a popularly elected governor and assembly. The headquarters building is located in the ward of Shinjuku. The metropolitan governme ...
Selected publications
*Kawasaki T. (1967
Acute febrile mucocutaneous syndrome with lymphoid involvement with specific desquamation of the fingers and toes in children ''Arerugi''. 16 (3):178-222 (in Japanese).
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kawasaki, Tomisaku
1925 births
2020 deaths
Japanese pediatricians
Chiba University alumni