Robert P Hasserjian M.D.,Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; Laurence de Leval M.D., Ph.D., C.H.U., Sart-Tilman, Liège, Belgium; Nancy Lee Harris M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.
Hematologic malignancies composed of large cells are common and encompass a wide variety of entities, including some that mimic non-hemopoietic tumors and some that present as oncologic emergencies. Correct and timely diagnosis is a crucial prerequisite to the administration of appropriate therapy. This course will cover the spectrum of aggressive hematologic neoplasms and provide a practical approach to diagnosing these entities.
The course will be organized around a series of case presentations illustrating challenging situations in the diagnosis of high-grade hematologic neoplasms. These will include lymphomas presenting as large/anaplastic cell infiltrates, proliferations of scattered large cells in a reactive background, mediastinal large cell tumors, blastic tumors with a ‘starry-sky’ appearance, and reactive lesions that mimic lymphoma. The course will focus mainly on the broad morphologic spectrum of lymphoid proliferations (B-cell, T-cell, and Hodgkin lymphomas), but myeloid tumors will also be discussed. Following the case presentations, we will present a summary providing practical diagnostic algorithms for specific scenarios.
Upon completion of the course, participants should be able to appropriately use clinical features, histologic clues, and ancillary testing to: 1) distinguish between high-grade hematologic and non-hematologic malignancies, 2) differentiate among high-grade lymphoma subtypes, 3) recognize less common types of aggressive lymphomas, and 4) correctly identify reactive lymphoid proliferations that may be misdiagnosed as high-grade malignancies.
The course is designed for advanced pathology residents, hematopathology fellows, general pathologists, as well as practicing pathologists with specific interest in hematopathology. A limited number of loan sets of glass slides will be available for advance mailing to pre-registrants. A syllabus containing lecture didactic materials will be distributed at the course. All participants will receive a CD with case histories and representative images from the cases (histology and results of ancillary studies) after the meeting.
(New Course) This course may be used for CME credits or SAMs credits.
