Click Here for Case Histories and Images

Gastrointestinal biopsy diagnosis has become a highly specialized area of surgical pathology. Gastroenterologists are increasingly knowledgeable about GI pathology and have come to expect a high level of expertise and specialized reporting for biopsies on their patients. This course, taught by both a pathologist and a gastroenterologist, is designed for an audience of general and specialized surgical pathologists and residents. It will teach state of the art diagnosis and reporting of GI material across a broad range of inflammatory and neoplastic conditions. In addition to providing up to date diagnostic criteria for the entities discussed, the emphasis will be on teaching (1) what elements should be included for a complete and clinician friendly report, (2) when to call clinicians and (3) how to cultivate a rapport with clinicians that will ensure (a) that adequate clinical information is routinely given to the pathologist and (b) outstanding patient care is achieved.

The format will be case based and will include discussion of neoplastic issues, such as grading dysplasia in IBD and Barrett esophagus, the malignant colon polyp (when to resect), when to recommend testing for HNPCC in colon cancer, and how to handle transanal resections of rectal cancer. Inflammatory lesions discussed will include how to distinguish reflux from eosinophilic esophagitis (what the clinician has to do), intestinal metaplasia found only at the GE junction (what does it mean and how to write the report), celiac disease in the tissue transglutaminase (tTG) era, how to not over or under diagnose microscopic colitis, and the handling of biopsies from immunocompromised patients.

Pre-registrants will receive a website address to view images online prior to the meeting, an extensive syllabus at the meeting, and a CD-ROM containing images and portions of the presentation following the meeting.

After completion of this course, participants will: 1) have a model for maximizing the effectiveness of pathologist-clinician interactions to achieve outstanding patient care, 2) have learned the subtleties of pathologic diagnosis in controversial areas of gastrointestinal pathology, and 3) be able to write effective and clinically relevant pathology reports, using terminology that provides the real information needed for clinical decision making.

(New Course) This course may be used for CME credits or SAMs credits.