Webinars and Sponsored Roundtables — Register Now

Thursday, August 20, 2026. 12 PM-1:30 PM ET
Hear from an expert in HER2 IHC whose work has contributed to current scoring guidelines.

Webinar presenter Josef Ruschoff, MD, PhD, Former Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Targos, Senior Consultant of Discovery Life Sciences, Kassel, Germany.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

To be rescheduled to a future date
Learn about digital pathology technology that is future-ready, yet practical for today’s
laboratory needs.

Webinar presenters Scott Hammond, Senior Systems Consultant, Digital Pathology Division, Wexner Medical Center, Department of Pathology, and Ursula Hofer, Imaging Technologist, Pathology Digital Imaging Lab, Wexner Medical Center, Department of Pathology, and Sandra Banky, PA(ASCP), Director of Operations, Wexner Medical Center, Department of Pathology.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

Subspecialties

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Abstracts

Clinical pathology selected abstracts

September 2024—Syphilis, an infectious disease caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum, can be transmitted by blood transfusion. Therefore, donor blood has been routinely screened for syphilis since the 1950s. Although a case of transfusion-transmitted syphilis has not been documented in more than 50 years, routine serological testing is still performed because there is not sufficient evidence that it is no longer necessary. Syphilis testing can contribute to disease monitoring for overall public health by identifying infected blood donors so they can seek treatment to prevent further spread. The Transfusion Transmissible Infections Monitoring System (TTIMS) monitors infectious disease and demographic changes in donors who contribute approximately 60 percent of the U.S. blood supply, including at four major blood-collection organizations.

Anatomic pathology selected abstracts

September 2024—Research has shown assessment of tumor-associated stroma to be of reliable prognostic value. The authors conducted a study in which they evaluated the prognostic value of tumor-stroma ratio in a large multicenter cohort of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. They used the conventional H&E-stained slides of 115 cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma to assess tumor-stroma ratio as described in recent guidelines. The amount of tumor-associated stroma was assessed as a percentage and then tumors were classified as stroma high (more than 50 percent) or stroma low (50 percent or less). Kaplan-Meier curves, a χ2 test, and Cox regression univariable and multivariable analyses were conducted.

Molecular pathology selected abstracts

September 2024—Oncology patients may benefit greatly from whole genome sequencing. Previous studies have suggested that it can provide relevant information pertaining to pediatric cancers, especially in selected cohorts of patients with high-risk disease. However, its clinical utility has not been thoroughly explored in routine clinical practice. The authors of this study examined the benefits of whole genome sequencing (WGS) in a consecutive cohort of pediatric patients from two institutions who required molecular workup for hematological neoplasms and solid tumors. Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, and Cambridge (England) University Hospitals offered WGS to patients with leukemia or solid tumors, respectively.

Clinical pathology selected abstracts

August 2024—Social media, including websites and platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter), are a dominant way to consume news and entertainment and have significant societal impact. Social media use in medicine, including pathology, is widespread and has been associated with numerous benefits. The medical industry generally has encouraged the professional use of social media, despite its potential harm. The approaches of various medical disciplines to social media have included support for early adoption, publication of how-to guides, enthusiastic backing by professional organizations, and formulation of guidelines to temper usage. The authors conducted a study to identify motivating forces and premises that underpin physicians’ adoption of social media for professional uses.

Anatomic pathology selected abstracts

August 2024—Emerging data suggest a correlation between T1 bladder cancer subcategorization, or substaging, and oncological outcomes. The International Society of Urological Pathology held a 2022 consensus conference on issues in bladder cancer, in Basel, Switzerland, in which it tasked a working group with making recommendations for T1 subcategorization of transurethral bladder resections. To this end, the ISUP developed and circulated a survey to its membership querying approaches for subcategorizing T1 bladder cancer. The survey focused on clinical relevance, pathological reporting, and endorsement of T1 subcategorization in the daily practice of pathology. Approximately 40 percent of respondents to the pre-meeting survey indicated that they do not routinely report the T1 subcategory.

Molecular pathology selected abstracts

August 2024—Alzheimer disease is genetically intricate and involves rare and common genetic variants. Early-onset autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease (ADAD) is caused by mutations in the APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2 genes, while variants in numerous other genes contribute to the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer disease, with APOE considered the most significant risk factor. APOE4 homozygotes face a lifetime risk of Alzheimer disease dementia of up to 60 percent by age 85, significantly higher than that of heterozygotes or noncarriers of the gene. The predictability of outcomes in APOE4 homozygotes has not been previously studied, limiting the application of statistical methods used in ADAD for APOE4 research. The predictable sequence of pathological, biomarker, and clinical changes in ADAD and Down syndrome has offered insights into Alz­heimer disease pathophysiology.

Clinical pathology selected abstracts

July 2024—People with sickle cell disease may undergo treatment with the medication voxelotor, which can increase hemoglobin levels and help reduce hemolysis. A clinician treating a sickle cell disease patient with voxelotor may want to know the whole blood concentration of the drug to better monitor the patient’s treatment response, inform therapy, or confirm the patient is complying with the directions for use of the drug. Voxelotor binds to the alpha subunit of hemoglobin and results in the hemoglobin molecule being more likely to stay in the oxygenated conformation. In vivo concentrations of voxelotor cannot be measured in most clinical settings. However, voxelotor has been found to cause peak splitting in common forms of hemoglobin measurement, such as capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)—that is, the classic peaks for each hemoglobin species split into a peak that has bound drug and a peak that does not.

Anatomic pathology selected abstracts

July 2024—The 2022 International Society of Urological Pathology consensus conference on urinary bladder cancer working group two was tasked with providing evidence-based proposals on applying grading to noninvasive urothelial carcinoma with mixed grades; invasive urothelial carcinoma, including subtypes and divergent differentiations; and pure non-urothelial carcinomas. Studies suggested that predominantly low-grade noninvasive papillary urothelial carcinoma with focal high-grade component has an intermediate outcome between low- and high-grade tumors. However, no consensus was reached on how to define a focal high-grade component.

Molecular pathology selected abstracts

July 2024—Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome that protect the chromosome from damage. They are maintained in equilibrium, as continual shortening at each round of DNA replication is counterbalanced by the de novo addition of telomere sequence repeats by telomerase. Failure to maintain the length distribution leads to short telomere syndromes that manifest as age-related degenerative diseases, such as pulmonary fibrosis, immunodeficiency, and bone marrow failure. In contrast, long telomeres can predispose people to cancer. Mutations that increase telomerase expression are one of the most common cancer-associated molecular findings.

Pathology informatics selected abstracts

July 2024—The integration of machine learning models into pathology has revolutionized the field, offering new functionalities and workflows. Numerous machine learning (ML) models are commercially available, and organizations with computational pathology resources can develop their own. These models, whether or not they are imaging based, are intended to enhance clinical practice. However, no formal guidelines pertaining to verifying or validating such systems are available. Therefore, the authors proposed recommendations for evaluating ML systems that are based on evidence and literature that address, among other factors, the scope, strengths, and limitations of the technology.