From the Editor-in-Chief

As seen from the editorial chair, the years go by with increasing swiftness. This issue starts our thirteenth year of publication, and hopefully will be lucky for all! As is usual, the issue contains a wide range of original articles. I would draw your attention particularly to the articles concerned with obtaining the views of the patients and their parents with provision of services (see pages 11–27), and the investigation of the items that influence parental choice of surgical procedures (see pages 7–10). Accompanying these articles, we have a particularly thoughtful Editorial Comment provided by John Spall (see pages 3–6). John bases his opinions very much on the experience he has gained as the Chairman of the Children's Heart Federation of the United Kingdom. This is a “blanket” organisation for the very many support groups existing within our country. The opinions of the parents have become of particular significance in the United Kingdom in the fall-out from the Bristol Inquiry. I have commented on this unfortunate episode in previous issues of the Journal.¹ Following that comment, we were pleased to publish a response from a parent on the issue of retention of organs.² In that comment, Maria Shortis emphasised the importance of dialogue between parents and professionals. John Spall's views continue to expand the dialogue. Although his comments largely reflect the experience within the United Kingdom, the issues discussed are surely relevant throughout the rest of the World. As always, we are pleased to offer our website, which is accessed through www.greenwich-medical.co.uk. This is open to anyone who wish to contribute, although thus far we must admit to being disappointed at the lack of response to the various issues we have attempted to air.

Improving our website is one of our New Year resolutions. To help in this, we are pleased also to announce some changes in the membership of our Editorial Board. At the same time, so as to make room for new members, we have taken the difficult decision to ask some of our long-standing members to step down from the Board. To all those who have stepped down, we offer our sincere thanks and gratitude for the time and effort they have dedicated to the Journal since its inception. In particular, we thank Fernando Lucchese, who was our Founding Editor in Latin America. We are also indebted to Ed Bove, Christopher Case, Michel Ilbawi, Roger Mee, Mohan Reddy, Maurice Ping Leung, Makoto Nakazawa, Toshikatsu Yagihara, Raffaele Calabrò, John Deanfield, Claude Planché, and Jane Somerville. We have welcomed on board a smaller number of new members, all of whom have pledged their efforts to improving the Journal still further. From Brazil, we are pleased to welcome Cleonice Mota. Cleonice works in Belo Horizonte, and has a special interest in rheumatic heart disease. From Charleston, South Carolina, we bring on board Girish Shirali. In addition to his expertise in cross-sectional echocardiography, Girish also has a special interest in websites, and currently is webmaster of the site designed for pediatric cardiologists within the American College of Cardiology. Girish is hoping to link these activities with our own so that we can all be abreast of the latest advances. Also from the United States of America, we welcome Jeff Jacobs to strengthen our surgical team. Jeff is also a key member of the International Nomenclature Committee, so we will depend upon him to keep us informed of the latest happenings in the arena of naming and coding.³ Our final two additions bring us much-needed strength in the area of intensive care. Increasingly important as part of the team dealing with diagnosis and treatment, intensivists have been less well represented on our Board. This is now redressed by the addition of Anthony Chang, from Texas Children's Hospital, and Allan Goldman, from my own base at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. In addition to their regular duties reviewing papers on request, we also hope to persuade our new Board members to become involved in our series of Continuing Medical Education. If we are successful in persuading them to put pen to paper, they will become much better known to you in the very near future. In this respect, we continue to try to publish either a contribution in the educational field, or else an authoritative review, in each issue. This issue is no exception, and I draw your attention to the excellent overview of cardiac transplantation provided by Steve Webber, from Pittsburgh Children's Hospital (see pages 64–83). You should also not ignore our first Japanese honoree entering the “Paediatric Cardiology Hall of Fame”. On pages 84–94, Hideki Uemura presents the incontrovertible case for Yasunaru Kawashima. In closing, I send all of you the very best wishes for the coming year from the Editors and Publishers of Cardiology in the Young.