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April 2017

New molecular road map for CRC

April 2017—Molecular testing for colorectal cancer is not for the faint of heart. While that’s not news to Stan Hamilton, MD—he’s head, Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and the Frederick F. Becker distinguished chair in cancer research, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center—he was reminded of this fact recently when a friend looked at the multipage molecular pathology report on his own tumor.

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With cloud computing, sorting out pros, cons

April 2017—“No man putteth new wine into old wineskins” reads the biblical aphorism in Luke 5:36–39, which continues by giving the reason: “The new wine would burst the skins and be spilled, and the skins would perish.” Old wineskins, biblical scholars say, would typically be stretched to the limit or become brittle as wine had fermented in them.

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Primary aldosteronism: diagnostic team lifts clinical practice

April 2017—For decades, Michael Laposata, MD, PhD, chair of pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, has touted the value of diagnostic management teams, and in February he led the first conference dedicated to such teams, referred to as DMTs. There, Alison Woodworth, PhD, told the story of how and why she created a DMT for primary hyperaldosteronism, what it achieved, and where her DMT focus is now.

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From the President’s Desk: If you can’t find your niche, build it, 4/17

April 2017—Our ubiquitous access to (and increasing reliance on) search engines such as Google, Siri, Cortana, and others has resurfaced much of the intellectual landscape. The historical “Guardians of the Truth” no longer sit comfortably in ivory towers waxing poetic while issuing definitive determinations of “fact.” Today, when we want to know something, we reach for our phones. The answers, devoid of context and authoritative citations, seem to be so simple there.

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Hemophilia management: Tips on monitoring modified replacement therapies

April 2017—Some modified recombinant factor VIII and IX products for hemophilia prophylaxis show significant reagent-dependent recovery in the one-stage assay, while recovery in the chromogenic assay appears to be more consistent, especially for modified recombinant factor IX. The variable results can lead to over- or underestimating the factor level, warn Stefan Tiefenbacher, PhD, of Colorado Coagulation, and Rajiv K. Pruthi, MBBS, of Mayo Clinic.

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Assessing LPL software

April 2017—Twenty years ago, CAP TODAY released its first product guide for laboratory-provider links software. The demand for connectivity was growing as laboratories built their outreach business, and the future looked bright for LPL software companies.

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Clinical Pathology Abstracts, 4/17

April 2017—Cost-benefit analysis of Chlamydia trachomatis screening in pregnant women: Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the United States. In 2010, more than 1.3 million such infections in the United States were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2013, the estimated direct lifetime cost of treatment for chlamydia and its complications was more than $500 million.

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Anatomic Pathology Abstracts, 4/17

April 2017—Proposing prognostic thresholds for lymph node yield in oral cavity cancers: Prognostic lymph node yield thresholds have been identified and incorporated into treatment guidelines for multiple cancer sites, but not for oral cancer. The authors conducted a study to identify optimal thresholds in elective and therapeutic neck dissection for oral cavity cancers.

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Molecular Pathology Abstracts, 4/17

April 2017—Molecular profiling in MDS to predict clinical outcomes after transplantation: In recent years, several insights have been gleaned regarding the role of molecular markers for prognosis in myeloproliferative disease. This study expanded the use of molecular markers for prognosis in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) to predicting clinical outcomes after allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplants.

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Q&A column, 4/17

April 2017—Our laboratory receives requests for breast predictive marker testing (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, HER2, Ki-67) on biopsies of bone metastases. Is it appropriate to perform this testing on decalcified tissue? Is there a regulatory speed limit—whether a per day or a per hour “at the microscope” workload limit—on surgical pathology slide interpretations, similar to workload limits for cytology screening?

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Newsbytes, 4/17

April 2017—New open-access website offers a treasure trove of digital slides; HL7 collaborates with Google; Health Catalyst and Regenstrief to advance text analytics technology; Corista teams with Elsevier to augment digital platform; Seacoast enhances system for document management

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Put It on the Board, 4/17

April 2017—At OSU, Inspirata completes deployment of WSI scanners, launches Consultation Portal: Inspirata has completed what it describes as the largest single-site deployment of whole slide image scanners at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (The James) and the Department of Pathology, both located at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus.

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