Webinars and Sponsored Roundtables — Register Now

Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 11 AM-12 PM ET
Hear experts review the biological and clinical significance of the HER2 expression continuum in breast tissue, providing a clearer understanding of how these variations might impact diagnosis, and discuss the emerging importance of documenting HER2-low and HER2-ultralow categories using a validated IHC assay.

Webinar presenters Keith Wharton, MD, PhD, Global Medical Affairs Leader–Pathology, Roche Diagnostics Solutions, and Hannah Y. Wen, MD, PhD, Director, Breast Pathology Fellowship, Associate Team Leader, Breast Pathology Team, Attending Pathologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. The webinar is made possible by a special educational grant from Roche.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

Thursday, October 29, 2026, 1 PM-2 PM ET
Hear an expert discuss the evolving role of PD-L1 testing in HNSCC and ovarian cancer.

Webinar presenter Georgios Deftereos, MD, Professor of Pathology, Associate Director of the Clinical Cancer Genomics Laboratory, Director of Molecular Cytopathology, University of California, San Francisco

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. The webinar is made possible by a special educational grant from Agilent.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

Tuesday, November 3, 2026, 1 PM-2 PM ET
Hear an expert discuss the challenges of detecting NRG1 fusions and how RNA-based testing can support more comprehensive fusion identification in clinical practice.

Webinar presenter Benjamin Weinberg, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Attending Physician
specializing in gastrointestinal medical oncology

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. The webinar is made possible by a special educational grant from Diaceutics.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

Monday, November 16, 2026, 12:30 PM-2 PM ET
Hear experts discuss a multidisciplinary approach to oncopathology for HER2
assessments for solid tumors in the absence of a companion diagnostic.

Webinar presenters Funda Meric-Bernstam, MD, Chair, Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics Medical Director, Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, and Emina E. Torlakovic, MD, PhD, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Canadian Biomarker Quality Assurance, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and Carol Cheung, MD, PhD, JD, FRCPC, Deputy Director, Canadian Biomarker Quality, Assurance—Programme canadien d’assurance de la qualité des biomarqueurs

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. This program is being sponsored by Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. and AstraZeneca. The speaker is being compensated for the presentation. The program is not CME accredited and may not be used for CME accreditation.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

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Q&A column

Q&A column

April 2018—A semen analysis for viability was collected at 9:30 AM and not received in the laboratory until 1:40 PM. Our standard operating procedure says this test must be analyzed one hour after collection, with no disclaimers stated for late receivables. Therefore, it is my understanding that a specimen received five hours after collection would be considered unacceptable because the viability of the semen is compromised and the collection delivery does not follow our SOP.

Q&A column, 3/18

March 2018—Our pathology group has an unusual case of residual squamous cell carcinoma of the lung in a lobectomy specimen after chemotherapy. The lung shows a hilar scar (1.7 cm) involving the lung parenchyma and the peribronchial adipose tissue. In the scar there is residual carcinoma (0.4 cm) that focally is involving the peribronchiolar adipose tissue around the lobar bronchus. The focus is located at 0.3 cm of the final surgical resection margin of the bronchus. Because the tumor involves peribronchiolar adipose tissue, is it considered outside the lung (extension outside the lung)? Since the tumor is in the mediastinal fat around the bronchi and had to invade the viscera pleura to invade the peribronchial adipose tissue, would the tumor stage be ypT2a? Or T3 since it is invading part of the mediastinal fat? Or should it be pT1?

Q&A column, 2/18

February 2018—I come from a core (hematology/chemistry) background, and I would like practical, how-to guidance in developing an effective QC strategy for HIV viral load testing. What performance characteristics do you verify? How many and what type of samples do you use? What are the chosen acceptable thresholds? Do you use L-J charts? If so, what do you plot, what control rules do you select, and how do you select them?

Q&A column, 1/18

January 2018—We are in the process of validating the Stago STA Compact Max and Stago STA R Max with cap piercing. The company is stating that the open and closed modes follow the same testing pathway and therefore validation between modes is not necessary. Is this correct? Is PHI (phosphohexose isomerase), also known as GPI (glucose phosphate isomerase), mainly responsible for metastasis and circulating tumor cells?

Q&A column, 12/17

December 2017—Is a tumor embolus in the capsule of the lymph nodes considered metastasis? Does the lung, like the lymph nodes of the breast, have the concept of isolated tumor cells? As the staging rule is “when in doubt, understage,” would the case therefore be pT2, N0?

Q&A column, 11/17

November 2017—A laboratory owns chemistry analyzers from company X. Company X recommends that its customers use company X’s calibration material to perform their linearity studies, starting with the highest concentration and using the chemistry analyzer’s autodilution feature to provide a total of four measurable concentrations and a final zero point. Does this protocol fulfill CAP checklist requirements?

Q&A column, 10/17

October 2017—Our doctors request strep group A culture on throat specimens that are negative for rapid strep group A. On culture workup, if we have beta-hemolytic strep, we perform latex grouping only for group A strep; we report negative for GAS if latex is negative and positive if latex is positive. I think we should confirm all GAS with pyrrolidonyl arylamidase (PYR), and group and report other non-GAS. What do you think?

Q&A column, 9/17

September 2017— I received a sample with very high hemoglobin grossly. When I ran the sample on the Cell-Dyn Ruby, it was unable to calculate the parameters related to Hgb. I diluted the EDTA blood and ran the test again. In this scenario, should I multiply all the indices and Hgb-related parameters with the dilution factor? Which parameters should I multiply with the dilution factor?

Q&A column, 8/17

August 2017—Due to an ever-changing workforce, many new and inexperienced technologists are working in the microbiology lab and appear to be having difficulty interpreting cultures and troubleshooting when an organism in question may not be significant. As an example, a scant growth of Micrococcus was isolated and reported from a cerebrospinal fluid culture; it was not seen in the Gram stain and was negative for leukocytes. Contaminants had been noted on some of the media plates at this time as well, but many of these inexperienced technologists do not have the confidence to ignore obvious contaminants or suggest the possibility of contamination. Is there some guidance or troubleshooting tools for these situations?

Q&A column, 7/17

July 2017—A laboratory is considering the implementation of a laboratory test for the diagnosis of Zika virus infection. This test is currently labeled as a test under the issuance of an Emergency Use Authorization. What specific regulations regarding the use of this test, quality control, and proficiency testing apply when performing this test on patient specimens?