Dětská neurologie

6 | www.solen.cz Dear colleagues! Pediatric Neurology has a long tradition in the Czech Republic. Pediatric Neurology has already been existing here since the fifties, sixties of the last century, when it was founded as an independent discipline by Professor Ivan Lesný. At that time it was a great step that brought us respect of colle- agues from developed countries in Europe and the whole world. Erudition, which was completed by passing attestation exam of Pediatric Neurology, was demanding and lasted five years. It meant mastering knowledge especially in the field of pediatrics and neurology, as well as in other fields, for example of anatomy, physiology, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology and intensive medicine. Only on the basis of this broad knowledge grew the own evolutionary neurology, and therefore the level of knowledge of pediatric neurologists was already at that time excellent. Unfortunately and even despite the tradition Pediatric Neurology has been facing great difficulties in recent years. This is causedmainly due to changes in the education system. At first Pediatric Neurology became two-year certified course, which could be initiated only after five years of erudition and after passing attestation examof neurology and pediatrics. In the further period of time there was an absolute insecurity and even for more than a year the doctors could not sign up for the Pediatric Neurology at all. Many colleagues, who were initially interested in Pediatric Neurology, naturally lost their interest entirely. Fortunately, thanks to the effort of prominent representatives of the discipline, mainly thanks to Professor Vladimír Komárek, Pediatric Neurology has been since the beginning of the year 2015 successfully returned back among basic disciplines and there is a requirement of five years erudition again. Certainly, however, now and in the near future, we will continue to deal with the disastrous con- sequences of the recent changes. Namely with a small number of pediatric neurologists, who are being missed in many regions completely, their unbalanced age structure, when the average age is almost 50 years and with the fact that there are almost no colleagues in various degrees of erudition at all. Motivation for a production of a brief textbook of special Pediatric Neurology, which we are presenting to you thanks to the willingness and cooperation of Solen publishing company, was to re-stimulate the interest of young doctors in the field of Pediatric Neurology, and to facilitate eru- dition and preparation for attestation of young colleagues. The textbook was prepared by a group of authors from several workplaces and it contains the most important issues of special Pediatric Neurology. Although the knowledge gained from this textbook will have to be supplemented by self-studying from other sources, the number of available sources today is uncountable, all authors firmly believe that it will become a small gateway to your training. So we are looking forward meeting you at the attestation of Pediatric Neurology! doc. MUDr. Hana Ošlejšková, Ph.D. editor of publication