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

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.

My old friend Professor Grace Yang,  Weill Cornell Medicine, Papanicolaou Cytology Laboratory, sent me the link ( https://app.box.com/s/im7eho2j8i8j8nwstdgddugqqx6q7pcp ) of her retirement memorial lecture. I believe it is useful for your cytology practice and contains the rich experience of her thyroid practice. She is famous in this field and published a famous textbook, “Thyroid Fine Needle Aspiration.”    

The COVID 19 outbreak causes serious impacts on meetings, domestic and international. I was invited to give a talk in the 2020 KTA Congress, and experienced Zoom conference for the first time. I enjoyed it very much. Thanks to the program committee and organizer.

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.