Trends in papers presented at meetings of the Society for Pediatric Radiology.

The abstracts of papers presented at the 1959-1994 meetings of the Society for Pediatric Radiology were reviewed and tabulated for organ system and imaging modality chiefly discussed and for number of authors per paper. Among organ systems, the musculoskeletal system and extremities were favored at first, then relatively ignored, then favored again. Interest in the central nervous system and head has been at a high level for the last decade. In modalities, plain radiography and fluoroscopy were dominant for more than 20 years but have now fallen to a much lower level of interest. Ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging, and computed tomography have passed all the older techniques and, collectively, have accounted for a large majority of the presentations for the last decade. Changes have been much greater in imaging techniques employed than in organ systems discussed. The number of authors per paper presented grew from 1.0 in 1959 to 1.7 for the 1960-1964 period to 4.1 for the 1990-1994 period.