On June 24, 2016, on the basis of the St. Petersburg Clinical Scientific and Practical Center for Specialized Types of Medical Care, the BioVitrum company organized and conducted a scientific and practical school-seminar “Difficulties and errors in dermatopalogy”. The event was held under the auspices of the Russian Society of Pathologists. More than 150 specialists from all over Russia took part in the work of the school-seminar.

The relevance of the problem is obvious. Over the past 40 years, the number of patients with skin cancer has increased 7 times, the annual increase in the incidence is 5%. According to data for 2011 in Russia, malignant neoplasms of the skin occupy the first place (14%), ahead of breast cancer in women and lung tumors in men. Despite the fact that melanoma of the skin accounts for just over 10% of all forms of skin cancer, it causes 80% of deaths attributable to malignant skin tumors. If earlier it was possible to say that the disease is diagnosed in people over 60 years old, then in recent years it has been getting younger and affects even 18-year-olds.

The program of the event was a practical seminar at which more than a hundred diagnostically complex cases of skin pathology were analyzed. First of all, clinical situations from the field of dermato oncology were proposed for discussion, but cases of non-tumor pathology (tumor-like, infectious and inflammatory diseases), extremely rare pathological processes were also observed. All preparations were presented in the form of high-quality digital slides and were accompanied by brief clinical information.

The lecturer of the seminar was Professor, Doctor of Medicine Thomas Menzel (Germany):

• Resident of the University of Jena (Germany), surgical pathology;
• Associate Professor of Pathology and Lecturer at the Medical School of the University of Freiburg (Germany);
• Member of the Education Committee of the German Division of the International Academy of Pathology.

The school presented an opportunity to exchange the enormous experience accumulated over the years in the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer. The main objective of the seminar was to familiarize participants with the main approaches to the diagnosis of skin diseases, which are based on clinical and morphological comparisons, as well as to present the results of therapy of these diseases.

The following topics were discussed within the framework of the program:

• Difficulties in differential diagnosis of Dermatofibromas (including atypical and malignant analogues), Angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma, Histiocytosis from Langerhans cells;
• Difficulties of differential diagnosis of adipocytic formations;
• Difficulties of differential diagnosis of vascular and pericytic (perivascular) formations.

An exhibition composition was organized for the participants of the school,where products for pathoanatomic research, included in the product portfolio of the company “BioVitrum”, as well as their own Russian innovative developments were presented:

• The hardware and software complex Histoviewer aroused great interest among those present. Thanks to him, everyone could examine scanned histological micro-preparations with difficult to diagnose clinical and morphological cases. High-quality digital materials with basic clinical information were posted on Russia’s first portal for pathologists HistoScan.com, which provided quick and convenient access to all materials. 

• Multifunctional laboratory information system LabForce (Med IT Solutions (Russia)), designed to automate work in Russian pathology departments. LabForce allows you to save and organize all the information necessary for work in one database, as well as provide support for working laboratory processes. It is a cost-effective system with an intuitive and user-friendly interface, which, due to its versatility, can be used both at the patient’s bedside and in a scientific laboratory, at a hospital or in a large company for conducting clinical trials on a commercial basis.

• Modern equipment and consumables for a wide range of histological and immunohistochemical studies.
  

The seminar school “Difficulties and mistakes in Dermatopathology” has received accreditation in the system of Continuing Medical Education (CME) of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation in the specialty — pathological anatomy. Each participant of the school received an official certificate.