CAPcast from the College of American Pathologists

Absolute Eosinophilia: A Practical Approach is the latest activity from the CAP’s Clinical Pathology Improvement Program, also known as CPIP (https://capatholo.gy/3aIYr4K). This activity describes a pragmatic approach for the workup of eosinophilia, including the appropriate application of molecular genetic studies, explains on of the CPIP case authors, Vandita Johari, MD, FCAP, in this CAPcast in...

Implementing the CAP Cancer Protocols can help to ensure the completeness of pathology reports and higher-quality pathology evaluation. Further, using the Cancer Protocols (https://www.cap.org/protocols-and-guidelines)can help to ensure pathologists are practicing consistent with current best-practices. In this CAPcast episode, Yale Pathology’s Dhanpat Jain, MD, FCAP, discusses how cancer protocol...

Following the release of the White House’s National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness, the CAP responded to the Biden Administration by outlining pathologists’ priorities as government officials work to implement the strategy. The CAP’s Advocacy efforts have included several touchpoints with the Administration and Congress. In this CAPcast, Jonathan Myles, MD, FCAP, will...

More than one year into the pandemic, leading pathologists discuss the challenges of managing the impact of COVID-19 on multiple public health fronts, including health disparities in which “preventable differences in the burden of disease ... are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations,” according to the CDC, and what that means in terms of testing and disease diagnosis and treatment. Th...

How can CAP members effectively advocate for their specialty when they cannot currently speak to their members of Congress in person? Or perhaps they are hesitant to speak to Congressional members due to a perceived lack of knowledge on advocacy issues. Fortunately, plenty of CAP members have participated in virtual meetings with members of Congress, and their legislative staff, and can provide so...

The legislative attention span has never been more difficult to catch and carry—particularly in the current virtual environment. The most effective approach to reach lawmakers to advocate effectively for the pathology specialty is two pronged—the first is to create a one-minute elevator pitch and secondly, polish your virtual speaking skills, according to leading communications experts and media t...

Cancer immunotherapy has revolutionized oncology through dramatically increased survival rates, even in late-stage disease. Some biomarkers are already covered in what has become routine testing in many laboratories, affording pathologists an opportunity to play a central role in developing and implementing these biomarkers in ways to improve patient care, explains Eric Walk, MD, FCAP, Chief Medic...

Throughout the COVID pandemic, the CAP has worked to introduce innovative hybrid and virtual inspection models to ensure safety for our inspectors and laboratories while working around evolving travel restrictions. During this podcast, Francis Sharkey, MD, FCAP, one of the pioneers of this new model, will discuss how he refined his inspection process and how the tools that he developed overlap wit...

The CAP’s Accuracy-Based programs use genuine human specimens that exhibit essentially no matrix effects. Such samples can be used to compare different methods to each other and to reference methods. In so doing, pathologists and laboratory professionals can assess whether the method used in their laboratories is accurate, not just that your performance matches your peer group. In this CAPcast, Ga...

State pathology societies strengthen the profession and bolster pathology’s influence on advocacy issues at the state and federal levels. When working with elected officials, we know that the number of members in an organization and the viability of the organization affects its ability to guide policy and impact decisions, explains Matthew Foster, MD, FCAP, vice-chair of the CAP’s Federal and Stat...

There's a lot of hype surrounding artificial intelligence (or AI) and pathology. Indeed, many pathologists are afraid that AI or machine learning will replace them. But there’s no evidence to suggest that pathologists will be replaced by the robots just yet, explains Matthew Hanna, MD, FCAP in this CAPcast interview. Dr. Hanna will be leading a session on this topic at the Pathologists Leadership...

The current state of health care is mandating consolidation and integration of practices and laboratories. The scope and rapid pace of these changes, particularly amidst the COVID pandemic, is unsettling and disruptive to staff and can lead to unusually large numbers of resignations. It’s unlikely this will slow down in the near future, and therefore, it’s important for pathologists who will lead...

Surveys have shown hesitancy among African Americans to take the COVID vaccine, much to the concern of physician and public health experts, who emphasize the perils posed by immunizations gaps in certain populations to overall public health. But it’s important to understand this hesitancy, explains Valerie Fitzhugh, MD, FCAP, who is Associate Professor and Chair of Pathology at both the Rutgers Ne...

Submitting quantitative PT results manually can be time consuming, can drain laboratory resources, and is subject to human error. CAP customers can now simplify this process by using direct transmission. In this CAPcast interview, Tim Aukerman, Corporate Quality Assessment Manager at Quest Diagnostics, discusses his experience with directly transmitting PT results to the CAP via the Data Innovatio...

There are several methods for workup of urinary tract infections or UTIs and utilizing the appropriate test(s) on the appropriate patients can allow for prompt and appropriate treatment and symptom relief, as well as reduce unnecessary testing and unnecessary treatment with antimicrobials, explains Dr. Stacy Beal, in this CAPcast. Dr. Beal, a pathologist at UF Health in Gainesville, Florida and me...

Pathologists have long been at the forefront of biobanking practices, assuring that biospecimens from patients are properly collected and processed for diagnostic procedures. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, pathologists and laboratory technicians have had to develop and implement new biosafety procedures to protect themselves and patients and they are also often involved in research into new...

About 85% of board-certified pathologists are reporting that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted their practices, according to a recent CAP survey: https://capatholo.gy/2HmFTLZ. In this CAPcast interview, Dr. Thomas Wheeler discusses the survey’s findings, which confirm the pandemic’s ongoing adverse effects on pathologists as the United States has relied on COVID-19 testing throughout t...

As more antigen testing methods become available in the market, the laboratory remains at the center of testing and ensuring accurate results for optimal patient care. Introducing a new antigen proficiency testing program for SARS-CoV-2 virus to complement existing programs for molecular and serology PT, the CAP now offers laboratories a complete suite of PT and quality improvement programs for al...

Classification of endometrial tumors based strictly on morphology can be challenging due to overlapping histologic features and often requires the assistance of ancillary testing. Recently proposed algorithms, such as the ProMisE Proactive Molecular Risk Classifier for Endometrial Cancer, coupled with TCGA data, aim to further subclassify endometrial carcinomas into prognostically significant grou...

In the current pandemic, the microbiology laboratory plays a central role in testing. To meet the demand for SARS-CoV-2 molecular testing, many laboratories have expanded testing capacity by adding multiple molecular instruments. However, this has left laboratories with questions regarding proficiency testing (PT) requirements for these additional instruments, as two CAP members, Dr. Bobbi Pritt a...

Many pathologists in training have gathered debt and are managing life on salaries that are going to adjust significantly as they exit training and move into practice. However, pathologists, like all doctors, need to be prepared to handle their finances as they train and exit into their jobs whether it’s to pay off debt or plan for retirement or both, explains Dr. James Dahle in this CAPcast inter...

With the dramatic rise in demand for COVID-19 testing, laboratories have implemented a variety of testing methods, among them polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. Regularly published research findings seem to question the validity or efficacy of many of the testing methods – and PCR is no different, as Dr. Sophia Yohe explains in this CAPcast interview. Dr. Yohe, director of the University of Mi...

When pathologists train they are often monitored every step of the way, and don’t have the opportunity to sign out cases on their own. It’s nerve-wracking to sign out your first cases, explains Dr. Buu Duong in this CAPcast interview. Some common questions that go through the minds of new in practice pathologists can include when to ask for help, when to get review, how many questions are too many...

By mid-2020 in New York, the state had more than 425,000 confirmed cases of corona virus and 23,500 residents dead from the virus. Most of these cases occurred early on as the disease spread rampantly throughout New York City and other parts of the state. Amidst all this trauma, the autopsies from these early COVID patients revealed significant findings, explained Mt Sinai pathologist Mary Fowkes,...

Soft tissue pathology is ubiquitous to any subspecialty. Recognizing some of the most common soft tissue lesions, as well as what immunohistochemical studies to order to decipher which lineage from which it arises can be challenging, explains Dr. Nicole Riddle, who will be teaching a course on this topic with Dr. Jerad Gardner at CAP20, entitled Soft Tissue Pathology Is Fun…Really! A Crash Course...