I would like to thank Dr Castillo for providing me the opportunity to be the section editor for the AJNR Case-of-the-Week (COW). It has been about 4 months since I assumed this responsibility and, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank colleagues from all over the world toward their contribution to the COW.
It has been about 2 – 3 years since COW was introduced by Dr Castillo. It has grown to be a tremendously popular site (sometimes receiving up to 10,000 views per month). With the hope of adding to the educational content of COW, Dr. Castillo and I have been thinking of introducing some changes to this popular site. These changes include:
1. Consider COW submissions from other faculty members (in addition to the Fellows). This would include submissions from residents (only when supported with an attending), and a junior attending (up to 3 years in practice).
2. Include Figure Legends.
3. Include 2 to 3 key diagnostic features in the discussion.
4. Include a list of relevant differential diagnosis. A discussion of the differential diagnosis will not be required.
5. Include all cases presented during that particular year as part of an electronic scientific exhibit for ASNR. In fact, such an electronic scientific exhibit was already presented at the recently concluded ASNR 2010 conference, where cases submitted during the year 2009 were compiled as an electronic scientific exhibit. This compilation is performed by me and Jason Gantenberg, Editorial/Web Assistant, AJNR and does not require any additional input from the contributing authors.
I do hope that the above mentioned changes will only add to the diagnostic armamentarium of us neuroradiologists. Do expect to see these changes taking effect from mid July/early August.
For those who are new to the submission process:
You can submit your cases directly to me at Girish.Fatterpekar@mssm.edu Cases need to be interesting and educational. They need not be rare. Case acceptance is entirely upon the discretion of the reviewer board. Upon receiving the case, a decision letter will be sent to you, usually within 2 -3 business days. If accepted, the acceptance letter will be followed by an email from Jason informing you about the possible publication date.
Case submission entails 3 power point slides:
Slide 1. Brief history, one to six high quality (color acceptable) illustrations. Name of the author (one per case) and institution.
Slide 2: With added Figure legends and appropriate annotations for the images (arrows, etc.).
Slide 3. Diagnosis, Succinct up-to-date discussion (1 to 2 lines each): background, relevant clinical information, key diagnostic features, list of differential diagnosis, treatment options, and up to 2 – 3 relevant current references (cite AJNR when possible, so as to allow link to the appropriate article).
I look forward to working with you all.
