Tomisaku kawasaki biography of mahatma

Japanese pediatrician (–)

Tomisaku Kawasaki (川崎 富作, Kawasaki Tomisaku, February 1, – June 5, ) was a Japanese pediatrician who first described the condition now known as Kawasaki disease in the s.^[1][2] Alongside rheumatic heart disease, Kawasaki disease is considered to be the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children worldwide.^[3]

Early life and education

Tomisaku Kawasaki was born on 1 February in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, 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, graduating in ^[4]

Career

Kawasaki conducted his medical internship year in Chiba and decided to specialize in pediatrics, due to his fondness for children.^[5]Medical residency in post-war Japan was unpaid and as his family suffered financial problems, his advisor recommended he take up a paid position at the Japan Red Cross Medical Center in Hiroo, Tokyo.

He would later practice as a pediatrician there for over 40 years.^[5]

After 10 years of researching milk allergy and unusual host-parasite cases, he saw a 4-year-old boy presenting with a myriad of clinical signs he later termed "mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome" (MCLS) in ^[5][6] In , 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.^[7] Opposition from several academics over the alleged discovery of the new disease lasted several years.

After he had collected a total of 50 cases, his page paper was published in the Japanese Journal of Allergy in ^[3][8] 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".^[9] Other colleagues across the country soon reported similar cases.^[10]

In , the Ministry of Health and Welfare established a research committee on MCLS headed by Dr.

Fumio Kosaki.^[11] This committee conducted a nationwide study on the disease, confirming it was a new disease which specifically affected arteries across the body.^[11] In , a pathologist discovered the connection to cardiac disease when he found a child with Kawasaki disease had coronary artery thrombosis at an autopsy.^[7] Kawasaki headed the Kawasaki Disease Research Committee which published its findings in the journal Pediatrics in ;^[12] He has been called "part Sherlock Holmes and part Charles Dickens for his sense of mystery and his vivid descriptions".^[10] It was the first time MCLS was published in English and brought international attention to the disease.^[11]

Kawasaki retired in and established the Japan Kawasaki Disease Research Center, which he led as director until and honorary chairman until ^[4][9] In , Kawasaki disease was officially added to Nelson's Textbook of Pediatrics, a leading textbook in the specialty, cementing international recognition of the disease.^[5]

In , Kawasaki estimated over , cases of Kawasaki disease had been diagnosed in Japan since the research committee's findings in ^[5] Kawasaki himself never referred to the disease by its eponymous name but conceded that the original name was too long.^[13]

Personal life and death

Kawasaki was married to fellow pediatrician Reiko Kawasaki who died in He died on 5 June of natural causes at the age of 95 years old.^[4] 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.^[14][15]

Awards

• Bering Kitasato Award, ^[16]
• Takeda Medical Award, ^[16]
• Health Culture Award, ^[16]
• Japan Medical Association Medical Award, ^[16]
• Asahi Prize, ^[16]
• Japan Academy Prize, ^[17]
• Tokyo Cultural Award,
• Japan Pediatric Society Prize, ^[5]
• At some time prior to , he had a personal audience with the Emperor and Empress of Japan at the Imperial Palace.^[11]
• Honored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government

Selected publications

• Kawasaki T.

  () Acute febrile mucocutaneous syndrome with lymphoid involvement with specific desquamation of the fingers and toes in children. Arerugi. 16 (3) (in Japanese).

• Kawasaki, T.; Kosaki, F.; Okawa, S.; Shigematsu, I.; Yanagawa, H. (). "A new infantile acute febrile mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome (MLNS) prevailing in Japan".

  Pediatrics. 54 (3): – ISSN&#; PMID&#;

• Kato, Shunichi; Kimura, Mikio; Tsuji, Kimiyoshi; Kusakawa, Sanji; Asai, Toshio; Juji, Takeo; Kawasaki, Tomisaku (1 February ). "HLA Antigens in Kawasaki Disease". Pediatrics. 61 (2): – ISSN&#; PMID&#;
• Shigematsu, I; Shibata, S; Tamashiro, H; Kawasaki, T; Kusakawa, S (September ).

  "Kawasaki disease continues to increase in Japan".

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Pediatrics. 64 (3): PMID&#;

• Yanagawa, Hiroshi; Kawasaki, Tomisaku; Shigematsu, Itsuzo (1 July ). "Nationwide Survey on Kawasaki Disease in Japan". Pediatrics. 80 (1): 58– ISSN&#; PMID&#;
• Fujita, Yasuyuki; Nakamura, Yosikazu; Sakata, Kiyomi; Hara, Norihisa; Kobayashi, Masayo; Nagai, Masaki; Yanagawa, Hiroshi; Kawasaki, Tomisaku (1 October ).

  "Kawasaki Disease in Families". Pediatrics. 84 (4): – ISSN&#; PMID&#;

• Burns, Jane C.; Shike, Hiroko; Gordon, John B.; Malhotra, Alka; Schoenwetter, Melissa; Kawasaki, Tomisaku (July ). "Sequelae of Kawasaki disease in adolescents and young adults". Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 28 (1): – doi/(96)X.

  Tomisaku Kawasaki • LITFL • Medical Eponym Library: After he had collected a total of 50 cases, his page paper was published in the Japanese Journal of Allergy in Japanese pediatrician — Add to Collections. His wife was always at his side in his last years, when he was wheelchair bound, but they were happy to raise a toast and drink a glass of wine to celebrate.

  PMID&#;

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