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SATURDAY JULY 9 |
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0800-1700 |
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0800-1130 |
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1300-1630 |
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1700-1900 |
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1700-2100 |
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SUNDAY JULY 10 |
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0800-1200 |
PA Section Off-site Workshops (St. Paul’s Hospital) |
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0800-1130 |
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1400-1700 |
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1700-1745 |
CAP-ACP Junior Scientist Award Lecture: Oligodendroglioma – From Cushing to CIC |
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1745-1830 |
CAP-ACP William Boyd Award Lecture: Pathology and the Social Contract – a Personal Perspective |
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MONDAY JULY 11 |
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0800-1030 |
Symposium and Kulcsar Lecture: Canadian Society of Cytopathology: Pancreatico-biliary Cytology |
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0800-1030 |
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1100-1230 |
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1400-1630 |
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1400-1700 |
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1730-2000 |
Poster Presentations |
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TUESDAY JULY 12 |
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0800-1130 |
Symposium: Competence-by-Design (CBD): The Future of Pathology Education in Canada |
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0800-1130 |
Symposium: Pediatric and Perinatal Pathology: The Placenta: Diagnosis, Research and Impact on Women |
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1400-1700 |
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1700-1800 |
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Symposium: Patient Safety and Quality Assurance Symposium
Saturday July 9, 1700-1900
1700-1800
The Landscape of Workload Assessment of Canadian Pathologists
Panelists:
Catherine Ross, McMaster University (Moderator)
Diponkar Banerjee, Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association (EORLA) and The Ottawa Hospital
Laurette Geldenhuys, Dalhousie University
Raymond Maung, Royal Inland Hospital
Martin Trotter, University of British Columbia
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Explain what pathologists do.
- Describe workload determination.
- Discuss impact of increased workload.
- Discuss relation to patient safety.
The panelists will discuss:
- Are there/should there be defined workload limits for Canadian pathologists?
- What is the evidence that workload and reporting quality are related?
- Are there risks to patient and/or pathologists associated with producing workload standards?
This session will be of interest to any person involved in the provision of laboratory services – pathologists, residents and administrators. Learn the importance of all aspects of pathologists’ duties and their potential impact on patient safety.
Residents Symposium
Saturday July 9, 1700-2100
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Have an improved recognition of the different patterns of practice of anatomical pathology in Canada.
- Enhance their job application and interview preparation techniques prior to seeking their first position as a staff anatomical pathologist.
- Gain understanding of potential financial management and tax optimization strategies both during residency and while working as a Pathologist.
- Recognize the potential benefits and challenges of seeking Fellowship training outside of Canada (e.g. The United States).
- Gain first-hand accounts of the experiences of Staff Pathologists who completed US Fellowship training.
- Learn about the ongoing activities of the CAP-ACP Resident Section and have the opportunity to ask questions or provide comments about this committee.
Although residency training can seem all-consuming at times, it is important to not lose sight of the need to prepare for life after residency. For some Residents, this will mean looking for their first Staff Pathologist position, for others it will mean seeking one or more Fellowships. This multi-speaker session will provide insights into these topics from Pathologists who have been through both sides of these application and hiring processes. Additionally, many Residents still feel financial stress from student debts and other ongoing living costs. Making wise financial decisions, both in residency, and after starting a practice in Pathology will help reduce the stressful burden of financial debt. This session will include unbiased information about optimizing tax-planning decisions and the potential for physician incorporation (when possible). The overall objectives of this workshop are to provide an informed, practical and organized approach to preparing for life after residency. The workshop will consist of lecture, interactive panel discussion and open forum components.
1700-1745
Finding a job. What is the laboratory director looking for?
Heidi Paulin, Red Deer Regional Hospital
Lisa Steele, Royal Inland Hospital
Martin Trotter, Providence Health Care
1745-1830
Tax planning and physician incorporation
Barbara Carle-Thiesson, Partner and Business Advisor, Professional Services, MNP
1830-1900
Start of Dinner Service
1900-1945
Fellowships in the United States
Jonathan Bush, BC Children’s Hospital
Tony Ng, Vancouver General Hospital
1945-2015
Resident Section Annual General Meeting
Launny Lowden, Chair
2015-2100
Social – Mosaic Grille (Hotel Lounge); cash bar
Combined Symposium: Guillermo Quinonez Seminar on the Medical Humanities/International Pathology
Sunday July 10, 1400-1700
The History of Neuropathology
Sidney Croul, Dalhousie University
LabSkills Africa: An Integrated Approach to Laboratory Systems Strengthening
Maadh Aldouri, Director of International Affairs, The Royal College of Pathologists
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Identify and understand the specific challenges facing pathology and laboratory medicine services in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Learn about the specific interventions and capacity-building measures undertaken by The Royal College of Pathologists and its project partners in order to strengthen knowledge, skills and services.
- Hear about the monitoring and evaluation framework which enabled the project partners to assess the impact of LabSkills Africa.
In Africa, laboratory services have been described as a ‘Cinderella’ service. Whilst they are critical for improving the health outcomes of many conditions that are associated with childhood and maternal mortality, chronic neglect (through a lack of investment in human resources and infrastructure; poor quality teaching and a lack of quality assurance systems) has resulted in these diagnostic services becoming the bottleneck in the delivery of high quality patient care. This presentation provides an overview of a laboratory systems strengthening initiative called ‘LABSKILLS AFRICA’. – a three year international collaboration involving 12 partners in the UK and Africa. Funded by the UK Department for International Development (UKAID), the project leveraged the volunteering efforts and skills of up to 30 pathologists and biomedical and clinical scientists drawn from around the world to train 100 laboratory technologists, supervisors, managers, pathologists and biomedical scientists in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
This presentation provides an overview of the LABSKILLS AFRICA initiative and explains the aims of the project, its methodology, impact, outcomes and the lessons learned.
The session will be of value to general and anatomic pathologists, pathology residents, pathology assistants, technologists, medical students and those interested in global health.
CAP-ACP Junior Scientist Award Lecture: Oligodendroglioma – From Cushing to CIC
Sunday July 10, 1700-1745
Stephen Yip, University of British Columbia
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Review the history of oligodendroglioma as a distinct histological and molecular entity.
- Appreciate the strong correlation between CIC mutation and molecular oligodendroglioma.
- Appreciate the functional consequences of CIC mutation in a hemizygous state in oligodendroglioma.
CAP-ACP William Boyd Award Lecture: Pathology and the Social Contract – a Personal Perspective
Sunday July 10, 1745-1830
Hallgrimur Benediktsson, University of Calgary
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe social contract briefly with respect to medicine.
- Describe the role of pathology in the community and in society from a historical and contemporary perspective.
- Discuss the importance of social engagement for pathologists – local, national, global.
Pathologists are increasingly required to refine their skills to tackle ever more sophisticated problems in disease diagnosis and management. We are living an explosion of knowledge, with personalized medicine becoming an ever more present reality, requiring us to use our knowledge to individualize our diagnoses and interpretations. At the same time, we need to take a high-level look at our practice to avoid a focus that is too narrow or technical. It is this challenge that I would like to address in this lecture. The tension between granular and global approaches is an important one, and I will argue that both aspects of our profession are vital to its progress and to our continued function as guardians of our rapidly evolving discipline. The global approach includes, among other things, an understanding of our social contract, and an appreciation of social engagement at multiple levels. I will argue that a balanced approach hat takes into account the granularity of personalized medicine as well as an awareness and engagement in our communities, local, national and global, will lead to a more rewarding practice of pathology. This balance can only happen in our careers if the foundation is laid during undergraduate and graduate education.
Symposium and Kulcsar Lecture: Canadian Society of Cytopathology: Pancreatico-biliary Cytology
Monday July 11, 0800-1030
0800-0920
Where We Are with Pancreatic Cytopathology
Kulcsar Lecturer: Edward Stelow, University of Virginia School of Medicine
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the cytologic features of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
- Describe ancillary techniques used to diagnose pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
- Discuss information needed by clinicians beyond the diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
This lecture will focus on the diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. It will discuss the cytopathologic features of the disease and how the disease can be distinguished from other pancreatic mass lesions. The use of ancillary techniques for the diagnosis and diagnostic schema will be discussed. Finally, additional anticipated needs of clinicians will be discussed.
This season will be of value to pathology residents, PAs, cytotechnicians, and general and anatomic pathologists.
0920-0950
Refreshment Break
0950-1030
Cytology of Pancreatic Cysts – a Practical Review
David F. Schaeffer, University of British Columbia
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Review common pancreatic cyst entities and cytological features.
- Discuss ‘traditional’ cyst fluid analysis and new ancillary testing methods for pancreatic cysts.
Symposium: Hematopathology
Monday July 11, 0800-1030
0800-0900
Monitoring of Residual Acute Leukemia in the Clinical Laboratory
Brent Wood, University of Washington
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- List the major methods used for laboratory monitoring of residual acute leukemia.
- Recite the basic principle of immunophenotyping for hematopoietic neoplasms.
- Describe the advantages and limitations of flow cytometry and NGS for residual disease monitoring.
0900-0930
Refreshment Break
0930-1000
Transfusion Medicine 101: Hot Topics
Karen Dallas, Providence Health Care
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Summarize key points/data surrounding the use of DOAC’s (including testing & reversal).
- Understand indications for use of PCC’s vs. FFP.
- Appreciate the current risks associated with transfusion, both infectious & non-infectious
- Discuss (& hopefully implement!) Utilization Management as it pertains specifically to Transfusion testing & products.
In this presentation we will discuss some of the current “hot topics” in transfusion medicine & coagulation. We will also take the opportunity to tie into some of the crucial basics which are worth reviewing. This talk will be very practical, especially for those who are NOT transfusion medicine specialists per se but who are tasked with covering the service/acting as TM specialists!
This session will be of value to pathology residents, general pathologists, hematopathologists, those with interest in Transfusion Medicine.
1030-1030
Update from the Minefield of Diagnosing Bleeding Disorders
Shannon Jackson, University of British Columbia
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Review the approach to diagnosing a bleeding disorder including the role of clinical bleeding scores.
- Provide a clinicians perspective on focused laboratory work up of a suspected bleeding disorder.
- Discuss the undefined bleeding disorder.
Symposium: Education: Simulation in Medical Education
Monday July 11, 1400-1700
1400-1445
Simulate to Stimulate Learning CanMEDS Competencies
Viren Naik, University of Ottawa
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Appreciate simulation as an active learning strategy.
- Understand the role of simulation in competency based education.
- Describe applications of simulation to teach non-medical expert roles.
Come discover all simulation has to offer with Dr. Naik, a world leader in medical education and inaugural Medical Director of the University of Ottawa Skills and Simulation Centre (uOSSC).
1445-1530
How Simulation Can Be Applied to Pathology
Marcio Gomes, University of Ottawa
Sidney Croul, Dalhousie University
Genevieve Soucy, Université de Montréal
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe simulators and simulation modalities that can be used in pathology.
- Discuss topics and approaches for developing simulation scenarios in pathology.
In this interactive session, three pathologists with expertise in education will explore different possibilities for using simulation in pathology and participants will have the opportunity to start creating their own simulation scenario.
1530-1600
Refreshment Break
1600-1645
Debriefing in Simulation (Resident-led session)
Elena Diana Diaconescu, University of Toronto
Deepti Ravi, McMaster University
Angela Tate, Memorial University of Newfoundland & Eastern Health
Rosemarie Tremblay-LeMay, Université Laval
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Differentiate between feedback and debriefing.
- Define what makes a good debriefing of a trainee.
- Apply debriefing techniques to their interactions with residents in day-to-day practice as well as simulation.
A team of four pathology residents will present a simulation learning activity with examples of feedback and debriefing. The session will be of value to pathology residents, pathologists, and pathology assistants involved in teaching and training.
Symposium: Forensic Pathology: Traumatic Subarachnoid Haemorrhage and the Mechanisms of Vertebral Artery Injury
Monday July 11, 1400-1630
C. Paul Johnson, Royal Liverpool University Hospital
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Recognize the typical presenting features and findings in traumatic basal subarachnoid haemorrhage.
- List some of the proposed mechanisms for vascular injury and potential predisposing factors involved.
- Describe a method of postmortem angiography suitable for investigating vertebro-basilar injury.
- Select an effective dissection approach to removing the vertebral arteries
- Describe an optimal histological sampling method to identify tear sites.
- Explain important changes in histological structure along the vessels and features which assist in confirming antemortem arterial damage.
The first half of the presentation will describe the common, and less frequent, presenting features of traumatic basal subarachnoid haemorrhage(TBSAH), discussing some of the areas of controversy and suggested mechanisms of vascular injury. Factors which might influence an individual’s response to a head or neck insult will also be considered as will the anatomical course and change in histology along the vertebral artery. The difficulties in attributing the fatal bleeding to a particular blow when more than one assailant is involved will be illustrated by TBSAH cases captured on CCTV. The second part of the session will be focussed on the investigative approach to identifying the site(s) of arterial damage. This will include the value of simple fluid injection and postmortem room angiography techniques. An optimal approach to carefully removing the vertebro-basilar arteries in the posterior fossa and the whole of the extracranial and dural course of the vertebral arteries will be described. Handling and sampling of the vessels and the use of special stains and serial sectioning will be covered as will the histological features which assist in determining genuine areas of ante mortem wall tearing. The described techniques are expected to histologically identify and confirm site(s) of bleeding in around 90% of cases of TBSAH.
Symposium: Competence-by-Design (CBD): The Future of Pathology Education in Canada
Tuesday July 12, 0800-1130
This symposium will explore the Competence-by-Design initiative and summarize the 1st workshop conducted by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in shaping the future of training in Anatomical Pathology. It will include an interactive session with the audience and a panel of educational leaders to receive feedback for the curriculum.
0800-0845
Competency-Based Education: The Concepts Behind Competence-by-Design
Marcio Mendes Gomes, Associate Professor & Distinguished Teacher, University of Ottawa Staff Pathologist, The Ottawa Hospital CanMEDS Educator, Royal College International
0845-0930
In the Pipeline: How CBD will change Postgraduate Pathology Education
Chelsea Maedler-Kron, Resident Representative, RCPSC Anatomical Pathology Specialty Committee, Dalhousie University
0930-1000
Refreshment Break
1000-1100
Competence-by-Design: Panel Discussion with Pathology Community
Panelists:
Chelsea Maedler-Kron, Resident Representative, RCPSC Anatomical Pathology Specialty Committee, Dalhousie University
Snezana Popovic, Residency Program Director Member, RCPSC Anatomical Pathology Specialty Committee, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University
Steven Rasmussen, Vice-Chair, RCPSC Anatomical Pathology Specialty Committee, Clinical Associate Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia
Monalisa Sur, Professor, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton ON Nucleus Region 3 Representative AP Specialty Committee, RCPSC
1100-1130
Competence-by-Design and Continuing Professional Development: Upcoming Changes to the CAP-ACP Annual Meeting
Marcio Gomes, Associate Professor & Distinguished Teacher, University of Ottawa Staff Pathologist, The Ottawa Hospital CanMEDS Educator, Royal College International
Symposium: Pediatric and Perinatal Pathology: The Placenta: Diagnosis, Research and Impact on Women
Tuesday July 12, 0800-1130
Symposium Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- List the placental pathology findings that have impact on management of the mother and neonate.
- Survey the benefits and challenges if standardized placental reporting.
- Investigate the biological basis of current and novel biomarker indicators of placental disease.
- Consider how an omics approach can contribute to placental pathology.
- Contextualize omics data into the framework of pathology including knowledge about structural heterogeneity.
- Reconsider the placenta through an interdisciplinary perspective and see it not only as a biological organ but as social relation and to reflect how this informs ethics and responsibility.
This interdisciplinary symposium will examine how the placenta and the factors it releases gives information about the biology and health of both the fetus and the mother. We will look at standard as well as innovative diagnostic approaches and discuss the information they can yield to the caregivers of the mother and neonate- in the postpartum and for subsequent pregnancies. New and exciting insights into the biology of fetal development that emerged from scientific placental research will be presented by leading investigators. The importance of a transdisciplinary perspective that respects the natural, personal and cultural facets of childbirth will be presented.
This unique symposium will allow a holistic and multi-perspectival study of the placenta . It will present the authentic and individualistic contributions of care givers and scholars in the field. It will impart a sense of the possibility, excitement and responsibility in this work.
0800-0845
Approaches to Screening for Placental Pathology
Julian Christians, Simon Fraser University
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Understand the roles of candidate biomarker molecules in normal placental development.
- Consider why biomarkers may be altered in placental pathology.
Fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia are leading causes of perinatal and maternal mortality, and are thought to be caused by deficiencies in placental development. There have been enormous efforts to identify markers of placental dysfunction that can predict the development of these complications early in pregnancy, before symptoms develop. Such screening would enable earlier detection, closer monitoring and potentially preventative treatment. Unfortunately, the predictive value of known markers is low, likely due to the heterogeneous nature of these conditions. Understanding the functions of markers and the mechanisms underlying their association with disease could improve screening strategies, the identification of subclasses of preeclampsia, and enable the development of novel therapeutic interventions.
0845-0930
Outcome-Based Approach to Placental Examination and Reporting
Jefferson Terry, BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- List common placental pathological entities with prognostic importance.
- Summarize the outcomes associated with common placental pathological entities.
- Discuss the value of standardized reporting of placental pathology.
Dr. Terry will present an outcome-based approach to placental examination and reporting focusing on placental pathological processes with prognostic significance. This session will be of value to pathology residents, perinatal pathology fellows, and pathology assistants and pathologists involved in placental examination.
0930-1000
Refreshment Break
1000-1045
Clinical and Research/Scientific Aspects of Placenta Pathology
Wendy P. Robinson, University of British Columbia
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the dynamic nature of epigenetic marks.
- Describe factors affecting measurement of DNA methylation and gene expression in the placenta.
- Describe how epigenetic studies of the placenta can be used for clinical application.
Our ability to investigate genetic and environmental influences on development has expanded with the rapid growth of ‘omics technologies. Before using these tools for clinical diagnosis and biomarker development, there are some very practical questions relating to placental biology that need to be addressed. I will emphasize the importance of understanding the cellular and structural heterogeneity within the placenta as well as population level variation, when applying such biomarkers to both normal and complicated pregnancies.
1045-1130
The Placenta is a Social Relation
Rebecca Scott Yoshizawa, Simon Fraser University
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Use sociological analysis to develop a more-than-biological understanding of placentas.
- Reflect on the real and potential impacts of a more-than-biological approach to placentas on practice in science and medicine.
Including and perhaps especially sociologists, few people appreciate the profound significance of placentas. Typically, a sociologist’s research subjects are people, so I go against the grain in making placentas, in and of themselves, my central focus. In this talk, my research in Brazil, Canada, and Australia with scientists, doctors, and mothers will be deployed to challenge various lines of thought on placentas, including that they are not of sociological relevance or that they are merely biological matters. At the end of my PhD I became pregnant, a mother to a baby and a placenta. Informed by my research and personal experiences, this talk will establish that the placenta is really a social relationship par excellence. We will develop a ‘sociology of placentas’ in order to argue that the story of any one placenta is the story of how all humans are connected through place and time by love, violence, gifting, and trauma. We will explore what impacts such an understanding could have on the practices of obstetrics, gynecology, perinatology, and perinatal pathology.
Symposium: Advanced Diagnostics and Anatomical Pathology
Tuesday July 12, 1400-1700
This symposium will address the practical aspects of molecular pathology application in Anatomical Pathology for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of tumors in various organ systems and will appeal to a pathologists and residents working in different practice environments.
1400-1420
Molecular Diagnostics in Gynecological Pathology
Blake Gilks, University of British Columbia
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Identify those recent advances in knowledge of the molecular pathology of gynecological cancers that have impacted on current subclassification of ovarian carcinoma in the WHO classification system (2014 revision).
- Understand the emerging molecular classification of endometrial carcinoma and its clinical relevance.
- Describe the differences between HPV-independent and HPV-associated carcinomas of cervix and vulva, and how this should change diagnostic practice.
1420-1445
Next Generation Pathology: Seamless (?) integration of glass and nucleotide
Stephen Yip, University of British Columbia
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Identify similar trajectories of glass- and nucleotide- based pathology in the transformation of medicine.
- Define the integrative framework of Next Generation Pathology.
- Anticipate ongoing application of Next Generation Pathology in practice.
1445-1515
The Importance of Pathology in Hereditary Cancers
Kasmintan Schrader, University of British Columbia
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Recognize the utility of next generation sequencing in diagnosing patients with hereditary cancer.
- Recognize the importance of pathology in discovery efforts regarding novel hereditary cancer susceptibility genes.
- Discuss the burden of germline findings in targeted tumor normal sequencing.
- Consider related practical and ethical considerations regarding germline findings.
The session will highlight the identification of genes involved in hereditary cancer syndromes (using next generation sequencing) and the importance of pathology in this endeavour. It will be of value to pathology residents, general and anatomic pathologists.
1515-1530
Refreshment Break
1530-1550
Pathology the Driver for Precision Medicine
Aaron Pollett, University of Toronto
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe how pathology is fundamental to the implementation of precision medicine.
- Outline the current role of molecular oncology in precision medicine.
The practice of molecular oncology is fundamental to the implementation of personalized / precision medicine. Advances in molecular testing are disrupting the current practice of oncology and will lead to a change in the role of pathology and the relationship between pathologists and oncologists. This talk will outline how pathology is the driver for precision medicine and describe how current advances can lead to new way of practicing oncologic pathology.
1550-1620
SP3-CTP: Ultrasensitive Quantitative Proteome Profiling of Single FFPE Tumour Sections for cancer subtype classification
Gregg Morin, Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the utility of proteomic analysis of fixed tissue samples for cancer biomarker discovery.
- Differentiate the utility of proteomic information versus transcriptome information for cancer biomarker discovery.
- Identify candidate biomarkers that distinguish common ovarian cancer sub-types.
The capability to interrogate formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues (FFPE) would significantly enhance the ability of genomic technologies to impact routine cancer care. While DNA/RNA sequencing technologies for cancer subtype analysis and biomarker identification are routinely used in clinical research laboratories, in-depth proteome analysis has been a niche technology. We developed a novel and practical platform called SP3-Clinical Tissue Proteomics (SP3-CTP) for ultrasensitive proteome profiling of single tumour sections. We performed in-depth quantitative analyses of single tumour sections from ovarian high-grade serous, clear cell, and endometrioid cancers to generate a highresolution proteome map of ovarian cancer histotypes from clinical tissues. Comparison of the proteome data with large-scale genome and transcriptome analyses validated the observed proteome biology for previously validated hallmarks of this disease, and identified novel protein features. A tissue microarray analysis validated cystathionine gamma-lyase (CTH) as a novel clear cell carcinoma feature with potential clinical relevance. These results show that in depth proteomic analysis of clinically annotated FFPE materials can now be deployed as a biomarker discovery tool and perhaps ultimately as a diagnostic approach.
1620-1645
Predictive biomarkers for immunotherapy: PD-L1 and beyond
Janis M. Taube, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Summarize how the Immunoscore compares to current TNM staging.
- Discuss the benefits and limitations of PD-L1 IHC in predicting response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies.
- Compare current chromogenic IHC testing methods for PD-L1.
- Identify additional markers that may be employed in future immunopathology assays.
The focus of this presentation is TNM-Immune staging and the emerging use of surgical pathology specimens for immune-based assays, including immunologic and molecular biomarkers for therapeutic selection and monitoring. With the recent FDA approvals for PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors and their associated companion and complimentary diagnostics, pathologists are being asked to incorporate such tests into their routine practice. This session will be of value to: pathology residents, and practicing general, molecular, and anatomic pathologists.
1645-1700
Panel Discussion
Symposium: Recent Trends In Pathology
Tuesday July 12, 1700-1800
Objectives:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Summarize the basics of miRNA biogenesis and function.
- Recognize the potential utility of miRNAs as disease biomarkers in body fluids and biopsies and how can this significantly improve patient management in the era of precision medicine.
- Describe the challenges that face the use of miRNAs as clinical biomarkers and the transition from bench to bedside.
Welcome to the world of the non-coding genome. miRNAs are short single-stranded RNA molecules that are estimated to regulate up to two thirds of all human genes. Recently, miRNAs are gaining a lot of attention due to the great potential as cancer biomarkers. miRNAs have a number of unique features that make them an attractive new class of biomarkers. They can be extracted with high quality from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues. In addition, they are also secreted and can be measured in urine, blood, and other body fluids as non-invasive liquid biopsies. In addition, miRNAs represent attractive new therapeutic targets for cancer and other diseases. The session will be of value to: pathology residents, PAs, general anatomic pathologists, and lab technologists. It will also be useful for those who are interested in pursuing miRNA research. We will provide a clinical prospective of the use of miRNAs, avoiding highly sophisticated technical aspects of miRNA research.
microRNAs: not very small after all
Vincent De Guire, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital
MicroRNAs in Pathology: short RNAs go a long way
George M. Yousef, University of Toronto