Keeping Pace With New Frontiers in Pathology

Lifelong learning is embedded in the definition of pathology as the study of diseases and the changes they cause.1 Demonstrating a regular commitment to lifelong learning through continuing education and self-assessment is a key component of the maintenance of certification programs that are in turn driven by public expectations that physicians will provide care predicated on knowledge and standards that are current and appropriately applied. The challenge, of course, is keeping pace with these expectations in an age in which information rapidly expands, is available globally, and is regularly refreshed through the power of the Internet and peer-reviewed publications like the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine.Pathologists have access to multiple information sources intended to help them stay current with translational discoveries and changes likely to have an impact on daily practice. In addition to traditional sources like clinically focused journals and textbooks, there is a growing portfolio of Web-based solutions available online either for purchase or at no charge. And yet, pathologist respondents to a recent survey predicted that pathologists entering the field today will continue to have an appetite for continuing medical education (CME) delivered in person, with one respondent saying that in-person CME is “valuable as a chance to interface with colleagues and share ideas” (United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology – unpublished data). Meetings in which experts deliver updated content come in multiple shapes and sizes, including not only meetings sponsored by major pathology organizations but also smaller meetings sponsored by smaller pathology societies, commercial CME providers, and pathology departments based in academic medical centers. Choosing one over another is likely driven by a combination of factors, including not only the reputation and experience of the meeting organizer and content providers, but also convenience, travel costs, competing priorities, and the desirability of the destination.This issue of the Archives includes a special section populated by manuscripts drawn from the proceedings of the New Frontiers in Pathology (NFP) workshop held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in September 2013. NFP is a two-and-a-half-day workshop, now in its eighth year, hosted by the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan. NFP is held in the magnificent Rackham Building on the main campus in the fall, a particularly pretty time to appreciate the hard woods for which Ann Arbor was named. The Rackham Building houses the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, a community of scholars, researchers, and students in nearly 200 programs at the University of Michigan, making it a perfect setting in which to learn from peers and colleagues. The program includes plenary lectures that showcase the interface between research and practice, case-based presentations highlighting differential diagnoses of practical importance for which digital whole slide images are available, and less formal breakout sessions in which smaller groups explore subspecialty topics with University of Michigan faculty.The special section in this issue is a collaborative project between the editor-in-chief and editorial staff of the Archives and the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan. Our common goal is to make available updated material likely to be of interest to practicing pathologists. The manuscripts in this special section are representative of material presented at our 2013 NFP meeting and were selected from more than 30 different presentations. Unique case-based diagnostic challenges in urologic pathology include pseudocarcinomatous hyperplasia of the urinary bladder by Angela Wu; inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors by Megan Alderman and Lakshmi P. Kunju; diagnosis and subclassification of renal cell carcinomas by Madelyn Lew and colleagues; and lymphoma of the prostate by Joshua I. Warrick, Scott R. Owens, and Scott A. Tomlins. Entities with the potential for diagnostic misadventure in any practice that sees hematopathology problems are reviewed in papers focusing on anaplastic large cell lymphomas by Maria A. Pletneva and Lauren B. Smith; splenic B-cell lymphomas by Amir Behdad and Nathanael G. Bailey; transient abnormal myelopoieses in neonates by Melissa Bombery and Jo-Anne Vergilio; and cutaneous T-cell lymphomas as well as their inflammatory mimics in separate papers by Thanh T. Ha Lan et al and David P. Arps et al, respectively. Other dermatopathology topics that were covered at our 2013 meeting and expanded in this special section include a case-based review of clear cell cutaneous neoplasms by Maria A. Pletneva and colleagues, and an overview of neutrophilic panniculitis, a heterogeneous group of disorders, by May P. Chan. Julie Jorns in collaboration with Michael S. Sabel and Judy C. Pang uses 3 cases to review the morphologic spectrum of lobular neoplasia in the breast. Finally, Amir Behdad and Scott R. Owens present a unique case of extranodal Langerhans cell histiocytosis and use it to summarize evolving information regarding molecular pathogenesis and novel treatment strategies for this uncommon entity.Special sections like the proceedings of our annual CME conference contained in this issue of the Archives are one of many options available to pathologists confronted with the challenge of keeping pace with the exploding knowledge base. We are grateful to the editors and publishers of the Archives for making it possible, and to all of the participating faculty and attendees responsible for the continued success of NFP.

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