It is estimated that the functionally significant body of knowledge for
a given medical specialty changes radically every 8 years. New
specialties and "sub-specialization" are occurring at approximately an
equal rate. Historically, established journals have not been able either
to absorb this increase in publishable material or to extend their
readership to the new specialists. International and national meetings,
symposia and seminars, workshops and newsletters, successfully bring to
the attention of physi- cians within developing specialties what is
occurring, but generally only in demonstration form without providing
historical perspective, patho- anatomical correlates, or extensive
discussion. Page and time limitations oblige the authors to present only
the essence of their material. Pediatric neurosurgery is an example of a
specialty that has developed during the past 15 years and over this
period, neurosurgeons have ob- tained special training in pediatric
neurosurgery and then dedicated them- selves primarily to its practice.
Centers, Chairs, and educational pro- grams have been established as
groups of neurosurgeons in different countries throughout the world
organized themselves respectively into national and international
societies for pediatric neurosurgery. These events were both preceded
and followed by specialized courses, national and international
journals, and ever-increasing clinical and investigative studies into
all aspects of surgically treatable diseases of the child's ner- vous
system.