Editorial: Pediatric Radiology for the Practitioners - Simplifying the Jargons.

Medicine is a dynamic subject. Pediatric Medicine, like other medical specialties, has experienced major expansion in the past decades. Keeping in pace with the technological advancement and expansion in pediatric medicine; a growing demand of this era is to translate the advances in medical technology to useful imaging advancements. And understandably enough, pediatric radiology has evolved very rapidly in the recent past. So much so that pediatric radiology has already established itself as a separate recognised sub-specialty in itself. The oftused phrase ‘children are not small adults’ can only emphasize and reflect the importance of this subspecialty. Whereas basic radiological interpretation in children is a skill which is probably essential for a practicing pediatrician; the newer advanced imaging modalities (such as CT, MRI, CT and MR angiography) are best interpreted by a pediatric Radiologist. As a pediatric Radiologist, one has to be well trained with basic radiology as well as diseases specific to children; and be well versed with the technicalities of various procedures. Being extremely careful about the radiation issues is of major importance in pediatric imaging. Pediatric Radiology, unfortunately, is not a wellestablished subspecialty in Indian scenario. Structured teaching program and fellowship in pediatric radiology is conducted in only a few central institutes in the country. Therefore, a basic teaching program and generation of awareness about the importance of this subspecialty is the need of the hour. It is therefore a responsible and welcome step by The Indian Journal of Pediatrics to bring out a symposium on pediatric imaging in three issues (June, July and September 2016). Since detailed description of the entire pediatric imaging is beyond the scope of any periodicals; the topics will be divided into three modality-based broad divisions. In the June issue, the focus will be kept on the utility of radiographs and ultrasound in pediatric medicine. CT and interventions will be discussed in the July issue and MRI in the September number. Plain radiographs are the most commonly performed imaging in any clinical practice. The radiographs are often interpreted by the practitioners themselves; especially so in an acute ICU setting or a busy OPD. Amongst all the investigations, Chest radiograph is the single most commonly performed imaging and its importance can not be undermined. A pediatric resident should have adequate skill to interpret a chest radiograph as abnormal and characterize the abnormality; which is often a critical part of the clinical decision-making. Hence, the first chapter in the June issue has a chapter on an approach to chest radiography, by Bhalla AS and colleagues. The authors have a vast experience in pediatric and thoracic radiology and have translated that into a lucid and informative text about pattern approach in chest radiograph [1]. Abnormality in a chest radiograph should be classified in specific patterns such as consolidation, mass, nodule, cysts etc. in order to reach a reasonable differential diagnosis. Musculoskeletal radiographs in children are also commonly performed for various indications; skeletal dysplasia being one major indication. While this area remains largely unexplored by both the pediatricians as well as radiologists; basic knowledge and a systematic approach towards the radiologic interpretation can yield truly gratifying results; leading the * Arun K. Gupta [email protected]