United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) Annual Meeting 2018 - Long Course

United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) Annual Meeting 2018 - Long Course is organized by United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP).

Original release date: May 29, 2018
Access to this course expires on: March 21, 2021

Accreditation:
The United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology designates this enduring material for a maximum of 5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

USCAP is approved by the American Board of Pathology (ABPath) to offer Self-Assessment credits (SAMs) and Lifelong Learning (Part II) credit for the purpose of meeting the ABPath requirements for Continuing Certification (CC). Registrants must take and pass the post-test in order to claim SAMs credit. Physicians can earn a maximum of 5 SAM/Part II credit hours.

Course Description:
In this era of minimally-invasive procedures for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment decisions, pathologists are often the “first responders” analyzing and triaging limited specimens, including aspirates and small biopsies, and are continuously asked to make more specific diagnoses from those smaller samples. Clinicians increasingly request information regarding specific classification of the malignant tumors, and in many cases, application of additional prognostic and therapeutic markers to help guide their management. Although morphology remains the cornerstone of cytology and histology, ancillary studies can confirm and/or subclassify a malignancy in many cases; and although most pathologists recognize the crucial role of ancillary testing, it can be extremely frustrating for many of us to keep up with new advances and rapidly growing developments in the fields of immunohistochemistry and molecular techniques. There exists abundant literature describing new antibodies and molecular tests and panels, but it can be especially overwhelming to decipher which tests are actually most practical in the workup of a specific neoplasm or clinical presentation.

For these reasons, one of the purposes of this course is to present the efficient utilization of these ancillary studies based on differential diagnoses generated by the cytologic and/or histologic evaluation. In this long course, we gathered some of the top experts in their fields to discuss their strategies and most practical approaches to maximizing the information gained from limited specimens from a variety of organs, including lung, colon, soft tissue, brain, breast, metastases of unknown primary origin and hematologic specimens. Diagnostic challenges and potential pitfalls associated with limited specimens will be highlighted, and importantly, discuss which of the ancillary tests are more practical. This approach is of critical importance in helping the pathologist to serve as the gatekeeper for preserving tissue adequacy and becoming most efficient in triaging such specimens.

Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of this educational activity, learners will be able to:
• Provide strategies to maximize information gained from limited samples acquired from a variety of organs
• Explore diagnostic challenges and potential pitfalls associated with limited specimens
• Learn efficient utilization of ancillary studies based on differential diagnoses generated from the cytologic/histologic evaluation
• Characterize pathologists as the gatekeepers for preserving tissue adequacy and sustaining efficient triage of specimens
• Give pathologists tools and strategies to provide clinicians with information they need in this era of targeted therapies