Page moderated by Dr. Dilip Ramrakhiani, MD

Heres the link to an interesting article which appeared recently in the Journal of Clinical Pathology which emphasizes the relevance of an accurate clinical history in gastrointestinal pathology.

http://jcp.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/58/5/559-a#F1

I hope youll enjoy reading this article. Your comments, if you have experienced similar situations are welcome.

Dear PathoIndians,

I welcome you all to this subspecialty section on Gastrointestinal and Liver Pathology. I sincerely feel that more than me this section belongs to you all with an active interest in this pathology subspecialty.

What I intend to do with support from you all members is take up topics that are of interest to us all covering gastrointestinal and liver pathology as we see it in our current surgical pathology practice. I am sure this includes both endoscopic & liver biopsies as well as larger resection specimens received from the surgery department.

With the advances in medical technology more and more areas are getting accessible to the gastroenterologists through their endoscopes and they are submitting us tiny biopsies from various regions demanding a wealth of information from the pathologists that can help them in managing their patients. So, the pathologists are under greater pressure to give the maximum possible information they can derive from these tiny little biopsies.

Also, with more and more advances taking place in our understanding of the management of cancer we are under pressure from our surgical gastroenterology colleagues to render ever increasing amount of information from the resection specimens e.g. comment on tumor margins, grade of cancer, TNM status, some comments on prognosis and therapy as they pertain to a particular case etc. etc.

It was with these points in mind that this section was conceptualized i.e. to keep us abreast with latest advances in this subspecialty so that we as pathologists are able to understand and satisfy the demands of our clinical colleagues and which in turn helps them better manage their patients.

So, do write in to me with your suggestions so that we can discuss various topics including the recent advances in the subject that will helps us all in improving our practice of pathology.

Regards,
Dr. Dilip Ramrakhiani
Pathologist
Division of Surgical Pathology
Department of Pathology
SMS Medical College & Attached Group of Hospitals
Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg
Jaipur 302004, Rajasthan, India
E-mail: rrdilip@yahoo.co.in