The Mall Test (or Fun With a Dysmorphologist)

摘要

This past spring I had the honor of announcing my first graduate of our pediatrics-genetics residency program at the year- end pediatrics graduation dinner. The pediatrics department puts on a nice event, complete with a slide show for each graduating resident that includes their personal pictures-them as a baby, their spouses, and for some their children. When my turn came to present my resident, I made the comment that it was a dangerous practice to show a dysmorphologist your baby pictures. The line got a good laugh.Like most dysmorphologists, I assume, I am well known among the residents and medical students for my ability to identify abnormal physical findings-wide set eyes, unusual ears, odd creases on the palm-all of the type of findings that we as dysmorphologists focus on and use to make a genetic syndrome diagnosis. But the skill of identifying them, while it can be demonstrated, is impossible to teach.