Special Session

Thursday, 31.08.2023, 11:45 – 12:30

We invite all interested participants to a Special Session initiated by our peers who work on special projects that would benefit from the participation of the larger veterinary pathology community.

1)    Open Research Data in Veterinary Medicine: project presentation and discussion (20 min)

The ORDVET project (Open Research Data in Veterinary Medicine) has recently been initiated with the aim to promote Open Research Data (ORD) practices and FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, Reusability) principles at the Vetsuisse Faculties in Berne and Zurich, Switzerland. Following the concept of ORD, research data is made publicly accessible and usable, which promotes transparency and reproducibility of research results as well as interdisciplinary exchange. So far, ORD has not yet been fully integrated into the daily veterinary clinical and research routine. We therefore think that ORD is a topic of high interest to scientists in all disciplines, including both anatomic pathologists and clinical veterinary pathologists, and that international connections would greatly enhance ORD implementation. Interested scientists are welcome to join our pre-lunch session where we wish to present and discuss our project and aim to exchange experiences and opinions on this topic.

Presented by: Franco Guscetti, University of Zurich, Switzerland

2)  Addressing the diagnostic and scientific challenges of histiocytic diseases in dogs: An initiative for research collaboration(10 min)

Histiocytic diseases in dogs pose many challenges to pathologists both as diagnosticians and researchers. The definitive histology-based diagnosis of sterile and infectious reactive granulomatous and pyogranulomatous canine cutaneous lesions is difficult. The morphologic features of canine cutaneous reactive histiocytosis and sterile granuloma and pyogranuloma syndrome are often overlapping, and these lesions share features with infectious granulomatous and pyogranulomatous skin diseases. In addition, inflamed cutaneous lymphoma may be difficult to differentiate from reactive histiocytic processes. The lack of a definitive pathological diagnosis in many of these cases translates the challenge to the clinicians, as the treatment of a sterile, infectious, or neoplastic disease is quite different. Furthermore, the underlying molecular mechanisms of histiocytic infiltrations and proliferations in dogs is vastly unclear. A better morphologic and molecular characterization of the histiocytic cell populations is therefore needed.

We see a need for collaborative research to make use of existing knowledge and new promising molecular techniques, and to increase the number of available cases with these rather uncommon conditions. This pre-lunch session is addressed to clinicians, pathologists and researchers interested in histiocytic diseases. Our goal is to initiate collaborative work to advance this inspiring field of research, and we enthusiastically invite you to join this interactive session and participate in the discussion.

Presented by: Sohvi Blatter, University of Bern, Switzerland

3)  Ring test for the validation of a diagnostic algorithm for the classification of canine and feline mammary tumours: CALL TO ACTION! (15 min)

The standardization of histological diagnosis is crucial in both human and veterinary medicine to ensure consistent and reliable classification of diseases. This is particularly challenging for heterogeneous lesions such as mammary tumours (MTs). In veterinary medicine, the classification of MTs has evolved over time, but diagnoses are still non-uniform and there are difficulties in comparing research studies and sharing data. In 2020 a panel of 15 veterinary pathologists from the Italian Association of Veterinary Pathologists gathered forming the Italian Working Group on mammary tumors (WG) with the aim to i) discuss the most recent Davis-Thompson DVM Foundation MT classification and create national guidelines for its application, ii) measure the level of interobserver agreement between pathologists (Papparella et al., 2022. Vet. Sci. 9(7), 357), and iii) develop a graphical diagnostic algorithm to help standardize the diagnostic process (presented at the Annual ECVP/ESVP congress, Athens 2022). In the last year, the WG designed an international ring study and gathered cases to perform a validation test on the algorithm. We are now almost ready to start the ring test, and would like to invite anatomic pathologists from various countries to be involved and actively contribute to the validation process.  We need your help! Please join this pre-lunch session to hear more about our initiative.

Presented by: Cristiano Cocumelli, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana, Italy