Messages from Kennichi Kakudo, MD, PhD to a person to be an expert of the cytopathology

I am delighted to announce that my book “The 3rd Edition, Thyroid FNA Cytology: Differential Diagnoses and Pitfalls” has just been published online (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-6782-7) .

I found that the diagnostic criteria of malignancy by pathologists and clinical guidelines varied greatly from country to country.  Asian thyroid nodule practice necessitates adaptation under diverse conditions, such as diverse healthcare resources, health insurance coverage, social policies, and epidemiological differences. They were crystallized in textbooks, the first and second editions of The Thyroid FNA Cytology: Differential Diagnoses and Pitfalls, highlighting how thyroid nodule practice is handled differently in Asian countries.

I wish to introduce the unique textbook Thyroid FNA Cytology: Differential Diagnoses and Pitfalls, published recently in its third edition from Springer, Singapore. This textbook helps endocrinologists, endocrine surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, and cytopathologists understand our diversity in thyroid nodule practice. To provide individualized guides to readers practicing in various geographic areas with different medical settings and social resources, the third edition tries to cover more than those provided by the first and second editions and invites authors from 21 countries in 95 chapters.

The Thyroid FNA Cytology, Differential Diagnoses, and Pitfalls have intentionally provided several topics in duplicate chapters by different authors to show how they are handled differently so that readers may select the most suitable and appropriate one related to each reader's thyroid practice and FNA cytology. I hope readers will enjoy reading these topics and compare their differences, as in any other existing textbooks on thyroid FNA cytology focusing on only one country. Understanding others is thought-provoking and can provide surprises on how thyroid FNA cytology is operated on differently among countries. I believe that this approach can increase knowledge and broaden perspectives.

Willey contacted me recently and I found one of our group studies published in the Diagnostic Cytopathology (Cytological diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma in the Asia-Pacific region.) was selected as a top cited article in 2021-2022. Congratulation to the first name author, Dr. C-Y Liu, and thanks to the Asian Working Group on Thyroid Cytology/Pathology. Those group works are productive and there are more than 20 publications by our group since 2017. We found significant heterogeneity in methodologies of thyroid cytology, but fair high diagnostic accuracy in this rare thyroid carcinoma in Asian-Pacific region. .

It is good news for us. Our 2 papers on COVID19 impacts on cytology lab published in Cancer Cytopathology were selected for the Top 10 Most Downloaded papers by Wiley. Thanks for these two international collaborations.

The Gland Surgery published a focused issue, “Asian and Western practice in thyroid pathology: similarities and differences.”  It is open access and available at a link: http://gs.amegroups.com/post/view/asian-and-western-practice-in-thyroid-pathology-similarities-and-differences Your comments are welcome.

The second edition, Thyroid FNA Cytology, Differential Diagnoses and Pitfalls, was published, both online and print edition, from Springer in May, 2019. Please visit at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-13-1897-9. There are significant differences in our practice, particularlly between Asian and Western practice. As a results, quality measures (proportions of cytological categories, resecttion rates, risks of malignancy and AUS/M ratio) were significantly different among us even all usees the Bethesda system reporting thyroid FNA cytology. For the purpose of providing individualized guides to readers who are practicing in various geographic areas with different medical settings and social resources, the second edition tries to cover more than those provided by the first edition, and authors from 15 countries (Australia, Canada, China, Korea, Japan, Italy, Philippine, Portugal, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America) invited to participate.The editor of Thyroid FNA Cytology, Differential Diagnoses and Pitfalls has intentionally provided several topics in duplicate chapters by different authors to show you how they are handled differently, so that readers may select the most suitable and appropriate one related to each reader’s thyroid practice and FNA cytology. This book offers a comprehensive guide to thyroid fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology. Borderline/precursor tumors, which were introduced in the 4th edition of the WHO classification of thyroid tumors, are also incorporated. In this second edition, prominent international experts discuss the different approaches to thyroid FNA cytology employed in various countries such as Australia, Canada, China, Korea, Portugal, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the USA, UK, Italy and Japan. The book not only covers key principles of thyroid cytopathology but also addresses technical aspects such as procedural complications, liquid-based cytology, immunocytochemistry, staining procedures, and potential pitfalls. Case-based descriptions and clinical findings, radiologic imaging, cytology, and histopathologic diagnosis – all complemented by a wealth of detailed photographs – will help reader understand and overcome many common dilemmas in daily practice. As such, the book represents an indispensable reference work for all cytopathologists, especially those practicing thyroid cytopathology.