"Children are not small adults"—pediatricians say that's what makes their specialty different from the practice of medicine in adults. For similar reasons, researchers exploring the medical uses of nanotechnology believe that the use of molecular-level nanomedicine techniques in children will also require its own specialty. In their annual supplement for 2010, the editors of Pediatric Research present some of the research that will form the basis of the emerging field of "nanopediatrics." The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, scientists, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.
Edward R.B. McCabe, M.D., Ph.D., of David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, is Guest Editor of the special supplement. "Nanotechnology and nanomedicine are anticipated to be major drivers of personalized medicine," he writes in an introductory article. "It is essential that we focus the power of these technologies to enable personalized medicine for children, in a specialty of NanoPediatrics."
Initial Studies in Nanopediatrics Look at Diagnosis, Treatment, and More
The papers in the special issue highlight the potential uses of molecular-level nanotechnology to promote children's health in a variety of areas, including disease diagnosis. Nanotechnology could detect subtle DNA abnormalities for rapid, point-of-care diagnosis of genetic-related conditions. Molecular thermometry techniques could detect very small changes in temperature down to the subcellular level, aiding in early detection of tumors or infections. The issue also outlines the development of combined diagnostic and treatment techniques, called "theranostics," which may one day enable diagnosis and treatment of cancers in a single procedure.