pathtalk.org is a weblog about pathology and laboratory medicine.

An unusual case of CADASIL? Or something else?

I recently did a brain autopsy on a 70-year-old woman who died from an intraparenchymal brain hemorrhage after a seven-year history of progressive dementia. The gross photograph follows:

I know what you’re thinking: an amyloid angiopathic bleed, or perhaps a hypertensive bleed, in a patient with Alzheimer disease. That’s what I was thinking until I saw [...]

High Grade Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia (HGPIN)

High Grade Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia (HGPIN):
Common questions asked about HGPIN are :
-How do we as pathologists make these diagnoses?
-What do they mean for the patient in terms of cancer risk?
-What is/are the optimal strategies for follow-up so that if cancer does eventually develop it is caught at an early, curable stage?
These questions are shortly discussed [...]

Pathology 2.0 in the Literature

In December’s issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology there is an interesting editorial by Dr. Mark Wick that discusses Pathology 2.0 in reference to two articles in the journal. In summary, I think he feels there are uses in place for education and e-publications that are suitable and practical but thinks there [...]

College of American Pathologists unveils updated patient website

The College of American Pathologists (CAP) unveiled today new resources and features on MyBiopsy.org to help patients better understand their disease. Neuropathological diagnoses discussed on the site include: anaplastic astrocytoma, glioblastoma, pilocytic astrocytoma, and oligodendroglioma. If one of your patients has questions about one of these pathological diagnoses, you can refer them to this website, [...]

Now Is The Time For All Primary Care Pathologists To Come To The Aid Of Haiti

Announcement From the CAP Foundation:
January 15, 2010
Dear Colleagues,
All of us are reading and watching the devastating news and seeing the wrenching pictures from Haiti in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake earlier this week. As a physician, I read the news and looked at the images with grief, with shock, and with [...]

This is your cancer

Several months ago a gentleman walked into my office and introduced himself. The name sounded familiar but I couldn’t recall the context where I had read it or heard it before. Without mentioning how I could help him he mentioned that I had read his biopsy the week before and he would like [...]