Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery
Vol.27 No.6 2011 (253-256)

Kei Takahashi1), Kazuo Suzuki2), Tsutomu Saji3)

1)Department of Pathology, Toho University Ohashi Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan, 2)Inflammation Program, Department of Immunology, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan, 3)Department of Pediatrics, Toho University Omori Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract

The summary of the Chapel Hill Consensus Conference on Vasculitis Nomenclature (CHCC) 2011 conference held in May 2011 is described here. One of the purposes of the CHCC 2011 conference was to discuss the possibility of developing alternative non-eponymic names for all vasculitis that have eponyms listed in the CHCC nomenclature. In regard to Kawasaki disease and Takayasu arteritis, the etiologies are still unknown, and the details of pathophysiology have not been clarified yet. Thus, it is difficult to think about an appropriate alternative name for both diseases. Cases with Kawasaki disease and Takayasu arteritis have been reported around the world, and those names are widely recognized by many physicians and researchers. In addition, CHCC 2011 is not an appropriate place to discuss alternative names for those diseases because there are no specialists in Kawasaki disease and Takayasu arteritis among the members. If the names are changed to alternatives by CHCC members without listening to the opinions of specialists, it might cause unnecessary confusion. As a result of the discussion, the eponyms of the two diseases are expected to remain. On the other hand, many other eponyms, such as Churg-Strauss syndrome, Henoch-Schönlein purpura and Goodpasture’s syndrome, were changed to non-eponymic names. The movement for the name change will continue in the future. The researchers of vasculitis in Japan should form their own opinion about this issue.