In recent years, the value of pathology, the queen of medical sciences, has been challenged by new sophisticated imaging and biochemical procedures. Nonetheless, for definitive diagnosis the pathologist continues to have the last word.
The editor and editorial board of AJDC have long recognized the educational value of pediatric radiology and pediatric dysmorphology, especially as they pertain to pediatric diagnosis and treatment. Departments examining the significance of these special diagnostic aids have become regular features of AJDC. More recently, AJDC has added Pediatric Perspectives and Pediatric Legal Medicine to its list of departments. The editorial board has decided that now is an appropriate time to challenge the reader by presenting case examples of conditions diagnosed or misdiagnosed by clinicians that were finally verified or disproven with tissue or clinical laboratory examination. Such exercises are especially pertinent now, when the postmortem examination is increasingly uncommon despite well-documented evidence of erroneous final