BAC Webinars

Remote ROSE for head and neck FNA : Telecytology utilising a clinical imaging assistant

27th March 1pm (GMT)

There is a growing requirement for rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE), however lack of cytopathology resource can be a significantly limiting factor.

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust have implemented a telecytology ROSE service to complement the existing ROSE provisions, offering additional clinics to head and neck patients at community sites.

Please join us for this 45 minute webinar to explore how this concept went from study to implemented service.

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The German health care system and the screening concept for cervical cancer 2pm UK Time

Speaker

Dr Arjola Xhaja

Specialist for obstetrics and gynecology with additional qualification in gynecological cytology, CytoMol Laboratory for Cytology and Molecular Biology, Frankfurt, Germany.

Overview

Germany has obligatory insurances for the whole population. About 100 public health insurances are accessible for all. They cover over 90% of the population while about 10% are privately insured.

In Germany since 1971 women covered by the public healthcare insurances were offered annual conventional cytology for cervical cancer screening (CC) starting at 20 years with no upper age limit in a nonorganized system. On 1 January 2020 the German regulatory institution Federal Joint Committee (GB-A) changed the screening program and introduced the new regulations with contesting. In women from the age of 35 years carried out every three years. In case of -already low-grade- abnormalities an algorithm demands expert colposcopy.

Meanwhile several technological advances like LBC, imaging and digital cytology (AI) to improve cervical cytology, resulting in increased disease detection and efficiency, have come into routine use in our laboratory. CytoMol is the largest labs for CC screening in a single site in Germany. LBC with computer-assistance has been offered as standard in co-testing since 2020. We will share with you our experience in that field and with AI use in routine screening.

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The Borderline Challenge

England fully converted to primary HPV screening in late 2019. Approximately 15% of all cervical tests detect the presence of high risk HPV and require a reflex cytology test to confirm the presence or absence of a morphological abnormality Approximately 50% of cytology tests are expected to show no cellular changes and will be repeated in 12 months.

Data (Q3 2022/2023) from English laboratories show the reporting rate for borderline and low grade dyskaryosis to be about 27.5% with individual providers ranging from 18.6 to 42.8% showing a marked variation in standards. Over reporting of borderline (ASCUS /AGUS) samples can lead to increased pressures and cost in colposcopy as well as unnecessary anxiety for patients. Many cell changes relate to a transient HPV infection which will clear the immune system and revert to normal. In the new era of HPV primary testing some cytologists and cytopathologists will air on the side of caution rather than issue a negative cytology result.

The borderline category has always been a difficult and subjective one. Most common areas for overcalling are inflammation, degeneration and metaplasia changes including repair, atrophy and iatrogenic effects. The aim of this workshop is to revisit the criteria for borderline in squamous and glandular cells and consider areas where the borderline category is being used inappropriately. It will also cover the use of sensitivity and specificity and the value of workplace tutorials and multi header microscopy sessions.

It is hoped this workshop will help cytologists to examine their own threshold and reinforce application of cytological criteria to correctly grade a sample.

Biopic:

Maggie Middleton is a Consultant Biomedical Scientist with 21 years of reporting experience and a cytologist for 37 years. She has represented the profession on numerous committees and advisory boards.

She is a practising Consultant Biomedical Scientist and Cervical Screening Provider Lead for Health Services Laboratories who became the sole provider of cervical screening in London in December 2019.

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BAC Spring Tutorial 2023

Pancreaticobiliary cytopathology: diagnostic approach and reporting terminology presented by Dr Maria Buttice, Consultant Pathologist, Guys & St Thomas’s Hospital

Cytology of the peritoneal serous fluid in gynaecological oncology presented by Prof. Danijela Vrdoljak-Mozetič, Department of Pathology and Cytology, Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka, Croatia

And includes Digital Slide Workshop

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Embedding Sustainability in Laboratory Practice

It has become apparent that the climate crisis is reaching critical levels and Governments and key organisations are recognising the need for change.

Watch this BAC webinar on sustainability presented by Sheri Scott CSci FIBMS

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Annual Scientific Meeting of the BAC - 17th September 2022

The ASM took place on Saturday 17 September 2022 over Zoom, and the theme for the meeting was How to avoid the common pitfalls in cytopathology

Presentations:

Dr Louise Smart on Urinary tract & serous fluid cytopathology

Dr Martina Munonyara on Head & Neck cytopathology (including thyroid and salivary glands)

Dr Tanya Levine on Cervical Cytopathology

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29th March 2022 - Harnessing the epigenetic footprint of cervical samples for breast and ovarian cancer detection and prediction

Dr Chiara Herzog gave an introduction and background a research programme aiming to detect four women’s cancers – breast, ovarian, endometrial, and cervical – using a single test, present current results and introduce the methodology of this new test, and provide an insight into ongoing and future trials looking at longitudinal risk monitoring using the WID test.

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Maximising the benefit of fine needle aspiration in head and neck: specimen management and the role of ROSE - Session 3

Description

• Lymphoma in head and neck cytology
• Implementation of ROSE US FNA clinic
• Business case planning

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15th December 2021 - Intraoperative cytology of the female genital tract: an alternative to frozen sections?

Intraoperative cytology is underused due to lack of experience of this technique amongst pathologists/biomedical scientists combined with paucity of literature on how best to perform and interpret cells so obtained.

During this webinar Dr Angela Ralte focused on the technique of sampling for intraoperative cytology and use illustrative examples to highlight instances where this can play an invaluable role in the intraoperative surgical management of the patient.
 

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Maximising the benefit of fine needle aspiration in head and neck: specimen management and the role of ROSE - Session 2

Description

• Provide trainee radiologists with an insight how to optimally preserve cytology FNA samples
• The importance of relevant clinical / radiological information
• Pathologies in head and neck

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Maximising the benefit of fine needle aspiration in head and neck: specimen management and the role of ROSE - Session 1

Joint events took place with the RCR to deliver education about the benefits and practicalities of head and neck ROSE

We are pleased to report that Vimeo links are now available from the three training sessions
 

Description

Provide trainee radiologists with an insight into the values of ROSE and evidence for adoption of best practice

• Importance of FNA preparation and preservation
• To aid service improvements – sample quality and diagnostic potential / implementation of ROSE US clinics
• Professional learning – Supporting radiologists and radiographers to work collaboratively across specialities to streamline head and neck pathways

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13th May 2021 - Digital cytology - views from the UK and USA

The pros and cons of whole slide imaging in cytopathology, discuss the RCPath approach to digital pathology highlighting where cytology is different, and share some preliminary experience with the Hologic digital cytology system for screening cervical cytology LBC slides.

The speaker is Professor Liron Pantanowitz, Professor of Pathology and Director of Anatomical Pathology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA
 

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23rd April 2021 - Cancer audit, disclosure and duty of candour & invasive cervical cancer audit case presentations

Focus of this BAC webinar held 23rd April 2021 was cancer audit, disclosure and duty of candour, with invasive cervical cancer audit case presentations

Speakers:

Philippa Pearmain, Regional Head of the Screening Quality Assurance Service (Midlands & East), National cervical QA lead, PHE Screening

Alison Cropper, CSci FIBMS, University Hospitals of Derby & Burton, President of the BAC
 

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26th March 2021 - BAC Spring Tutorial

The BAC Spring Tutorial Programme included a talk and slide seminar on Ultrasound FNA by Dr Karen Villar Zarra as well as a panel discussion on Head and Neck FNA and Rapid Onsite Evaluation (ROSE)

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24th February 2021 - Collaborative: The role of cytology in multi-disciplinary working

BAC Webinar held on Wednesday 24th February 2021 that was hosted by the Cytopathology Department, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

This webinar demonstrated how vital multi-disciplinary working is, with a particular focus on the role of cytology.

A diverse selection of presenters representing radiology, surgery, respiratory medicine and cytology, presented an exciting combination of MDT case discussions, as well as interesting cases, rapid on site evaluation and KRAS mutations in non-small cell lung carcinoma.
 

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26th November 2020 - Diagnostic Cytopathology cases West Herts

Five cases, variously involving diagnostic cytopathology, integrated cellular pathology and rapid onsite evaluation to be presented by both cellular pathologists (including trainees) and biomedical science staff.

The cases will hopefully illustrate morphological interpretation and diagnostic challenges as well as correlation of cytopathology, histopathology and radiology for educational and diagnostic purposes and how decisions in real time can improve patient outcomes
 

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27th October 2020 - Interesting, Difficult & Unusual cases

British Association for Cytopathology webinar held on 27th October 2020 with cervical cytology cases presented by Mrs Alison Cropper, Dr Paul Cross and Dr Kay Ellis. Also features discussion on MDTs.

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2nd October 2020 - HPV Primary Screening cases

Presented at the 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of the BAC, Helen Burrell (BAC Executive) provides six challenging HPV Primary Screening cases for discussion

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2nd October 2020 - Rapid On-Site Evaluation (ROSE)

Presented at the 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of the BAC, Dr Anthony Maddox (BAC Chair) updates on Rapid On-Site Evaluation (ROSE)

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11th September 2020 - Diagnostic Cytopathology cases

A range of cases presented by trainee and consultant cytopathologists including Dr Yurina Miki, Dr Mary Varia, Dr Martina Munonyara and Dr Josephine Wright. The webinar session was hosted by Dr Ashish Chandra, BAC Executive member from the Department of Cellular Pathology, Guys & St Thomas' NHSfT on 11th September 2020

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