Hematopathology

March 2023—Updated classifications for hematologic neoplasms are here. Let the complications continue. As with other specialties, hematopathology has been absorbing advances gleaned from molecular and genetic data. In some cases, this can tilt diagnosis away from primarily immunophenotypic approaches. It might lead to splits in what was formerly a single entity. On occasion, it might suggest further testing options that could be of value to patients now, or possibly at a date down the road. Or it might just leave pathologists and their clinical colleagues peering at a lack of data, knowing they have to make decisions nonetheless. Two groups—the World Health Organization and the International Consensus Classification—have put forth classifications to help physicians sort through the complexities. The WHO published a beta version of the fifth edition of its Classification of Haematolymphoid Tumours in July 2022.

January 2023—Due out this spring is the CAP’s Color Atlas of Flow Cytometry. It consists of 71 cases and provides examples of the full range of hematolymphoid diseases that can be productively analyzed by flow cytometric immunophenotyping. Its editors are David Dorfman, MD, PhD, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital; William Karlon, MD, PhD, of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center; and Michael Linden, MD, PhD, of M Health Fairview-University of Minnesota Medical Center. CAP TODAY recently asked Dr. Dorfman a few questions about the atlas. His answers to our questions and a sample case follow.