Preface

The 24th edition of Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Pediatrics (CDTP) features practical, up-to-date, well-referenced information on the care of children from birth through infancy, childhood, and adolescence. CDTP emphasizes the clinical aspects of pediatric care in the context of important underlying principles. CDTP provides a guide to diagnosis, understanding, and treatment of the medical problems of all pediatric patients in an easy-to-use and readable format.

Like all Lange medical books, CDTP provides a concise yet comprehensive source of current information. Students will find CDTP an authoritative introduction to pediatrics and an excellent source for reference and review. CDTP provides excellent coverage of The Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP) curriculum used in pediatric clerkships. Residents in pediatrics (and other specialties) will appreciate the detailed descriptions of diseases as well as diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Pediatricians, family practitioners, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other health care providers who work with infants, children, and adolescents will find CDTP a useful reference on management aspects of pediatric medicine.

Forty-six chapters cover a wide range of topics, including neonatal medicine, child development and behavior, emergency and critical care medicine, and diagnosis and treatment of specific disorders according to major problems, etiologies, and organ systems. A wealth of tables and figures provides quick access to important information, such as acute and critical care procedures in the delivery room, the office, the emergency room, and the critical care unit; anti-infective agents; drug dosages; immunization schedules; differential diagnosis; and developmental disorders.

The 24th edition of CDTP has been revised comprehensively by the editors and contributing authors. All chapters have been revised to reduce excessive text and condense text into tables. New references as well as up-to-date and useful websites have been added, permitting the reader to consult original material and to go beyond the confines of the textbook. As editors and practicing pediatricians, we have tried to ensure that each chapter reflects the needs and realities of day-to-day practice.

4 Adolescence

7 Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders & Psychosocial Aspects of Pediatrics

9 Ambulatory & Office Pediatrics

10 Immunization

16 Eye

17 Oral Medicine & Dentistry

19 Respiratory Tract & Mediastinum

21 Gastrointestinal Tract

22 Liver & Pancreas

23 Fluid, Electrolyte, & Acid-Base Disorders & Therapy

25 Neurologic & Muscular Disorders

31 Neoplastic Disease

33 Immunodeficiency

36 Inborn Errors of Metabolism

37 Genetics & Dysmorphology

38 Allergic Disorders

41 Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

42 Infections: Bacterial & Spirochetal

43 Infections: Parasitic & Mycotic

The 19 chapters that have been extensively revised, with new authors added in several cases, reflect the substantially updated material in each of their areas of pediatric medicine. Especially important are updates to the chapters on immunizations, endo-crinology, neurologic and muscular disorders, and adolescence. The chapter on HIV includes current guidelines for prevention and treatment of HIV and updates information on the new antiretroviral therapies that have become available. The chapter on immunizations contains the most recently published recommendations, discusses the contraindications and precautions relevant to special populations, and includes the new vaccines licensed since the last edition of this book. Chapters on adolescence, skin, immunodeficiency, inborn errors of metabolism, and neoplastic disease are markedly updated with the latest information. All laboratory tables in Chapter 46 Pediatric Laboratory Medicine and Reference Ranges that includes reference ranges and reference intervals have been updated. All other chapters are substantially revised and references have been updated. Twenty-six new authors have contributed to these revisions.

The editors would like to thank Bonnie Savone for her expert assistance in managing the flow of manuscripts and materials among the chapter authors, editors, and publishers. Her attention to detail was enormously helpful. The editors also would like to thank Tia Brayman at Children's Hospital Colorado who produced the cover photographs.