Editor-in-Chief: Michael S. Kappy. Associate Editors: Lewis A. Barness, Leslie L. Barton, Carol D. Berkowitz, Enid Gilbert-Barness, Jane Carver, and Moritz Ziegler
Publisher: Elsevier – 332 pages
Book Review by: Nano Khilnani

This book is about medical advancements in the treatment of ailments, conditions, diseases, and disorders of children. Its 16 chapters written by 32 contributors discuss the details relating to each discovery and medical breakthrough in diagnosis and treatment.

Most noteworthy of all the advances in the field of pediatrics are those of Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig, born in 1898 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who was a champion for children with heart disease. She is described in an article by Drs. Kathryn Neubauer and Anne Murphy as an ‘innovator and leader in pediatric cardiology’ for her work in helping children with congenital heart problems. .

She is most well known for the Blaylock-Taussig procedure that saved the lives of countless children with cyanotic heart defects. She worked to develop this device (eventually named a ‘shunt’) and an operation with Dr. Alfred Blaylock and his technician Mr. Vivien Thomas. They came from Vanderbilt University to meet her for the first time at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in 1941.

That was the beginning of a collaboration that may have eventually saved thousands of lives of children. (Sometime after 1952, she published a paper on the outcomes of the first 1,000 children who underwent this operation).

Dr. Taussig wrote several books, including the Atlas of Congenital Cardiac Disease and Congenital Malformations of the Heart, published over 40 articles, received more than 30 awards and was bestowed numerous honorary degrees, including one from Harvard. In 1964 she received the Medal of Freedom – the highest civilian honor in the United States – from President Lyndon Johnson. And, she became the first woman to become president of the American Heart Association

After an Introduction Dr. Michael S. Kappy that touches upon general pediatrics, infectious diseases / immunology, cardiology, gastroenterology and surgery, the various advances in pediatrics are laid out in these chapters:

  • Immunization Update IV
  • Bullying and Victimization Among Children
  • Slums Are Not Places for Children to Live
  • Detecting Disorders of Vitamin D Deficiency in Children: An Update
  • Infections Related to International Travel and Adoption
  • Update on Allergen Immunotherapy for Treatment of Allergic Diseases
  • Advances in Noninvasive Imaging in Pediatric Cardiology
  • Recent Advances in Interventional Pediatric Cardiology
  • Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes
  • Enteropathies of Infancy and Childhood
  • Necrotizing Enterocolitis: Contemporary Management and Outcomes
  • Historical Development of Pediatric Surgical Quality: The First 100 Years
  • Introduction: Parents’ Perspective
  • Abdominal Organ Transplantation in Children
  • Surgical Management of Adolescent Obesity

This book is unique in that it reveals and discusses new discoveries and innovations in many areas of pediatrics. There are very few books out there that do this. Dr. Kappy is a medical pioneer in this respect.

The efforts of the associate editors and the contributors (named in the book) have also been very valuable in making this book fulfill its mission of advancing knowledge and techniques in pediatrics. All are hereby commended for their creative thinking and problem solving, and their hard work.

Editor-in-Chief:

Michael S. Kappy, MD, PhD is Professor of Pediatrics, at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and is affiliated with the Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, Colorado

Associate Editors:

Lewis A. Barnes, MD, DSci(hc), DPH(hc), Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, Florida.

Leslie L. Barton, MD is Professor Emerita in the Department of Pediatrics at Steele Memorial Children’s Research Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.

Carol D. Berkowitz, MD is Executive Vice Chair in the Department of Pediatrics at Harbor UCLA Medical Center; and Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Torrance, California.

Enid Gilbert-Barness, AO, MD, MBBS, FRCPA, FRCPath, DSci(hc), MD(hc) is Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Cell Biology, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, at the University of South Florida College of Medicine. She is also affiliated with Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Florida.

Jane Carver, PhD, MS, MPH is Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, Florida.

Moritz Zeigler, MD is Retired Surgeon-in-Chief in Pediatric Surgery at Children’s Hospital Colorado; and Retired Professor of Surgery at University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, Colorado.