Felice D’Arco1, Jin Ye Yeo2
1Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK; 2TP Editorial Office, AME Publishing Company
Correspondence to: Jin Ye Yeo. TP Editorial Office, AME Publishing Company. Email: editor@thetp.org.
Expert introduction
Dr. D’Arco (Figure 1) specializes in pediatric neuroradiology. His research interest involves the pathologic-radiologic correlation of inner-ear malformations, pediatric head and neck imaging and pediatric epilepsy.
Dr. D’Arco completed his undergraduate medical training at the University 'Federico II' of Naples, Italy. He completed his general radiology training in Naples and spent one year at the University Hospital of Leuven, Belgium, deepening his knowledge of advanced magnetic resonance (MR) techniques. Dr. D’Arco completed a fellowship in pediatric neuroradiology at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada in 2015. He was also appointed to Great Ormond Street Hospital as a Consultant Pediatric Neurologist in the same year.
Dr D’Arco is also a member of various professional organizations, such as the editorial board of Neuroradiology, official journal of the European society of neuroradiology (ESNR). He is a member of the head and neck subcommittee of the ESNR and teacher of neuroradiology for the European course of pediatric neuroradiology and European course of Head and Neck radiology. He has co-authored over 130 peer-reviewed scientific publications in international journals and 5 book chapters. He also manages a YouTube channel focused on pediatric neuroradiology teaching for residents and fellows.
Figure 1 Dr. Felice D’Arco
Interview
TP: Could you share some advances in pediatric neuroradiology in recent years that have particularly intrigued or excited you?
Dr. D’Arco: The main advance is definitely in artificial intelligence (AI). However, this is still a field in its embryonal phase and it is still difficult to include AI software in the clinical practice. The future is bright, but a lot of work is needed and close and expert human supervision is still a must.
TP: How have these advancements impacted you in your practice or research? Could you share some case studies or examples?
Dr. D’Arco: Especially in the field of epilepsy imaging, there are several options to aid the research of subtle malformations of the cortical development in children; ultimately finding an epileptogenic lesion is changing their prognosis allowing a surgical resection so we need to use all the tools we can, such as advanced sequences, AI, post-processing, and consensus reading.
TP: One of your research focuses is on the pathologic-radiologic correlation of inner-ear malformation. How has pathologic-radiologic correlation enriched the way you and your team approach complex and discordant cases of inner-ear malformation, and subsequently reach a unified management decision?
Dr. D’Arco: Historically, the phenotype-genotype correlation in children with deafness was poorly understood; now we have more tools to identify, just looking at the radiological appearances of the ear, the genetic cause of the deafness (saving time and money) and the possible syndromic associations (changing the patient’s management dramatically).
TP: In your experience, what specific strategies or initiatives do you believe could further enhance the implementation of multidisciplinary discussions in pediatric neuroscience?
Dr. D’Arco: After COVID, the increasing use of virtual meetings should favor (and already is to some extent) multi-center, multidisciplinary review of cases and sharing of knowledge by and large. The goal will not be only multidisciplinary discussion within the institution but beyond the borders.
TP: Given the rapid structural, metabolic, and functional changes in children, what are some steps that you take to ensure accurate imaging? What are some challenges that remain despite taking these steps?
Dr. D’Arco: The main challenge is optimization and tailoring of magnetic resonance (MR) protocols. In a nutshell, you need to provide advanced MR protocols which are different depending on the clinical indications, but also have as much standardization of the protocols themselves. Finding this fine balance is the most important first step in patient care.
TP: In addition to being a pediatric neuroradiologist and a researcher, you are also a teacher. What are some values and wisdom that you impart to your students? How do you see these values influencing the trajectory of their medical careers?
Dr. D’Arco: Teaching is learning, and I feel I learn more than I teach. If I can share a “pearl” from the great philosopher and roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, “we have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we speak”.
TP: You are also managing a YouTube channel that focuses on pediatric neuroradiology. What inspired you to start this YouTube channel? What keeps you motivated to continue managing this channel despite your busy schedule?
Dr. D’Arco: A lot of scientific meetings and courses are expensive especially for low-income countries. I wanted to share my presentations and teaching material from me and my colleagues in a free and accessible manner.
TP: How has your experience been as an Editorial Board Member of TP?
Dr. D’Arco: It has been amazing so far to contribute to a clinical journal, translational effort between clinicians and radiologists is the key!
TP: As an Editorial Board Member of TP, what are your expectations for TP? Would you like to provide any suggestions for the development of TP?
Dr. D’Arco: I would like a clinic-radiological paper on a regular basis, in order to help clinicians find radiological clues that can help them in the differential diagnosis.