Surgical Pathology topic template
Revised: 17 April 2024
Copyright: 2018-2024, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
Revised: 17 April 2024
Copyright: 2018-2024, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
- Please note that to write for us, we need you to follow our format. This means writing in bullet points rather than complete sentences, adding references as PMIDs next to the relevant text, providing captions and legends for images, and following specific format requirements for sections such as Sample pathology report and Board review questions. As a free website, we are not able to rewrite significant portions of text and we cannot accept submissions until they meet our requirements.
- We estimate it takes 10-15 hours to write a topic and obtain images.
- Authors typically work on one topic at a time and only those confirmed by us. After confirmation, we will email you a Word document of the topic as it currently exists along with our procedures. Please email the completed topic to us for review. A comprehensive writeup is 1,000-2,000 words (award winners are typically longer). There is no word limit, but we prefer concise writing. We will return it with a list of necessary changes, Our Editorial Board members and Deputy Editor for the subspecialty will then review. If you do send us more than one topic, we will hold the other submissions until the first topic has gone through the editing process and is published online. This way, you can apply any formatting changes that are needed to all further topics prior to submission.
- We need authors to be responsible and reliable. We expect the first draft within one month from assignment. Extensions are liberally granted. However, if we do not hear from you, we may cancel the assignment.
- Write using bullet points and concise phrases. If you use sub bullets, be consistent in the indentation of the sub bullets so it is clear for the editorial staff. Please limit use of bullets to two or rarely three levels of bullets.
- Special formatting such as bold, italics, underline or quotation marks should be removed whenever possible. We prefer plain text formatting.
- Text will be modified to conform to our publication format. For example, hyphens are mostly eliminated from text as they can be confused with a dash that means negative.
- Eliminate excess words and use a separate bullet for each fact, see example:
- Incorrect format:
- This disease affects males and females equally. Approximately 10% of patients with this disease have clinical symptoms of fever and pain.
- Correct format:
- M=F
- 10% have fever and pain (PMID XXXXXXXX)
- Incorrect format:
- Abbreviations are acceptable only if widely used, such as CT, DNA, EBV, FISH, H&E, HIV, IHC, N:C ratio, PET, PSA, RNA or RT-PCR. Otherwise, please write out the term for less common abbreviations, such as CR, DLBCL, LGL, ORR or PTCL.
- The use of tables is allowed; see examples: Diagnostic testing of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and Nephroblastoma
- Ensure that the topic contains material necessary for, or of interest to practicing pathologists.
- References: topics should have 5+ journal references and preferably 10. Authors should do a literature search of PubMed for articles. References should be from journals published in English and most should be from within the past 5 years. References should refer to the primary report that describes the finding, not to a case report that cites this primary report. Examples of preferred pathology journals are Am J Surg Pathol, Am J Clin Pathol, Arch Pathol Lab Med, Hum Pathol, Histopath, Mod Pathol and Virchows Archiv. Please insert the PMID number (at the bottom of the PubMed page) for each reference after the text that it is supporting. Example: 30% present with advanced disease. PMID 27053535. For rare topics we prefer some citations, even if older or in a foreign language. Results from a study or anything not general knowledge should have a reference. WHO books, textbooks or websites should be used sparingly as references, and only if they define histologic variants, grading, a newly recognized entity or contain information not in a journal.
- We provide you the option of writing a separate short paragraph to appear in our blog that describes this topic, to appear with your picture.
- Author names appear on topics and chapters with links to our Authors page, which lists topics completed per author.
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- You must provide your own micro images. We no longer allow links to outside micro images. You must include several H&E images (JPG, GIF, PNG or TIFF format, 600 KB+, 1000 to 1600 pixels in height or width) demonstrating all important histologic features including low and high power and relevant immunostains. Please do not send images much larger than 2 MB.
- Generally, we prefer that authors send no more than 18 micro images.
- Images should be original and in color. Authors should clean the slide, white balance the camera, focus the microscope, take the image and use imaging software to adjust contrast, color and brightness as needed. Examples of four high quality images are below:
Well circumscribed
Sheets of cells
Spindling
Myxoid stroma
- Each image should be 1 individual picture, not a composite, so it can be easily viewed and used.
- Images should be sent as attachments, either to the email or as part of a Google Drive or Dropbox file.
- Images should be submitted as you would for a textbook, in which pertinent clinical history is a part of the figure legend. Please name and number the image file so it can be clearly matched with the legend. Do not submit groups of pictures as interesting cases or unknown cases.
- For each image, submit the image file name, caption and a figure legend under the appropriate section (Gross images, Clinical images, etc). Please also indicate who owns the image, and who contributed the image. If you own and contributed all of the images, you can make a general statement. Do not include your name, twitter handle, institution or logo on the image.
- The caption should be 1-4 words which describe the image findings, such as "cytologic atypia", "chronic inflammation" or "epithelioid cells." Do not use captions such as "Case 1", "Various images", "H&E", "100x" or the diagnosis.
- The figure legend will appear when the image is open and must contain all relevant information including site, procedure, diagnosis, key histologic findings and stain if other than H&E. It can include magnification (objective, excluding eyepiece) but should include more than that. Do not use figure legends such as "Case 1" or "Representative images".
- We will remove all existing outside micro images.
- To make the topic complete, include clinical images, radiologic images, gross images, intraoperative images, electron microscope images and molecular / cytogenetic images which can be provided by you or with links to PathoPic, Radiopaedia, WebPath, Wikipedia or free full text journals accessed via PubMed. To keep an existing image, the author must provide a reason why it should be kept.
- Authors are responsible for their own illustrations but we can refer you to an illustrator upon request.
- Click here to view our Image Guide showing the different types of images.
- All external images must be accessible without having to register or pay a fee to see them or we cannot use them. This includes most PubMed images listed as "free full text" or "open access", but you need to double check. Since your institution may pay to give you access, you should verify that images are free on your home computer or by using the “incognito” setting on your browser.
- For external images, please provide a link for the image or specify which image from the article you would like to use, along with a 1 - 4 word caption. (e.g. PMID: 21084962, figure 1, IAPN gross / histologic correlation)
- Click here for a great resource by Dr. Eric Glassy on creating photomicrographs from whole slide images or other sources on the web that does not violate copyright law. If an image is captured from a virtual slide, please let us know so that we can list both you and the owner of the virtual slide as contributors.
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- Organ, procedure :
- Diagnosis (see comment)
- Comment: _________________
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Please review the author instructions here prior to writing:
Example of well written Surgical Pathology topic: Lung tumor - Typical carcinoid
For ease of use, we put topic headings in the same order. Please put some text under each heading, but do not include obvious or repetitive information. If you think there is nothing to add, please write "not relevant to this topic", "repetitive with __ heading" or "unknown at this time" [i.e. if etiology is not known]. Do not delete any topic headings.
Author 1
Author name with degrees: ___________________________________________
Author rank (M.D. candidate / Resident / Fellow / Instructor / Assistant, Associate or Full Professor): ___________________________________________
Author leadership roles (maximum of 2) (ex: Director of Surgical Pathology, Vice Chair of Anatomic Pathology, Director of Cytopathology): ___________________________________________
Author institution name: ___________________________________________
Author institution city, state and country: ___________________________________________
Author email address: ___________________________________________
Author 2
Author name with degrees: ___________________________________________
Author rank (Assistant, Associate or Full Professor): ___________________________________________
Author leadership roles (maximum of 2) (ex: Director of Surgical Pathology, Vice Chair of Anatomic Pathology, Director of Cytopathology): ___________________________________________
Author institution name: ___________________________________________
Author institution city, state and country: ___________________________________________
Author email address: ___________________________________________
Chapter name: ___________________________________________
Section and subsection (in the Table of Contents): ___________________________________________
Topic name:___________________________________________
Definition / general
A 1 - 2 sentence summary of the topic.
Essential features
This topic heading should be completed after the rest of the topic is finished, and should duplicate the 3 - 5 most important points mentioned elsewhere in the topic. In other words, it should list what every pathologist should know about the topic or what would be in a Board Review book.
Terminology
Other names used today or historically that pathologists may be more familiar with.
ICD coding
Include relevant ICD-10, ICD-11 and ICD-0 codes with associated diagnoses.
Epidemiology
Who gets this lesion - age, gender, geographic location, very strong causal connections (example: Kaposi sarcoma and HIV, HHV8); weaker associations are listed under clinical features).
Sites
Parts of the body or organ typically affected.
Pathophysiology
Explain the steps from normal tissue to the condition or disease. For malignancies, list any known precursor(s).
Etiology
Known or suspected causes of the disease or condition (e.g., tobacco use).
Diagrams
Those that don't automatically fit in another section. Provide caption and figure legend.
For images to be posted on PathologyOutlines.com, please fill out the following for each image:
Name of image contributor: _________________
Image title (file name): _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Legend (detailed description): _________________
For images linked to an outside website, please fill out the following for each image:
PMID: _________________
Figure #: _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Clinical features
Anything clinical not included above or below. Includes associations with other conditions.
Diagnosis
Information on how a diagnosis is made including imaging modalities and procedures utilized. Do not include microscopic findings. Please include WHO related essential and desirable diagnostic criteria, if appropriate.
Laboratory
Typical findings (positive or negative).
Radiology description
Typical findings (positive or negative).
Radiology images
Typical findings. For images you submit, provide a brief 1 - 4 word caption to appear below the thumbnail of the image and a longer figure legend to appear when the image is opened. If you do not have your own images, refer to the Case reports section for how to provide links to journal images, and provide links with a brief 1 - 4 word caption. Please check Radiopaedia.org for images as well.
For images to be posted on PathologyOutlines.com, please fill out the following for each image:
Name of image contributor: _________________
Image title (file name): _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Legend (detailed description): _________________
For images linked to an outside website, please fill out the following for each image:
PMID: _________________
Figure #: _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Prognostic factors
Favorable or unfavorable prognostic factors for a condition. Overall prognosis, recurrence rates, etc.
Case reports
List 3 - 5 quality case reports, preferably from the past 5 years (unless the diagnosis is exceedingly rare). Please verify that the diagnosis in the case report is correct. The format should be written as "25 year old man with large retroperitoneal mass (PMID: XXXX)." Each case report should include a detailed discussion containing images and differential diagnosis (clinical or pathologic). Case series should only be included if there are no available case reports. We prefer case reports from free full text PubMed archived journals in English. To find case reports that meet this criteria, use the following PubMed search (fill in the diagnosis): DIAGNOSIS case reports[PT] free full text[SB] "last 5 years"[DP] english[LA]. This search should also be utilized to find images that you are not able to provide, such as radiology, clinical, gross, cytology, electron microscopy and molecular / cytogenetics.
Treatment
General modes of treatment. Drug dosages are usually not necessary - if you want to include them, please provide a reference.
Clinical images
This includes intraoperative images or images of the patient but NOT gross images. For images you submit, provide a brief 1 - 4 word caption to appear below the thumbnail of the image and a longer figure legend to appear when the image is opened. If you do not have your own images, refer to the Case reports section for how to provide links to journal images, and provide links with a brief 1 - 4 word caption.
For images to be posted on PathologyOutlines.com, please fill out the following for each image:
Name of image contributor: _________________
Image title (file name): _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Legend (detailed description): _________________
For images linked to an outside website, please fill out the following for each image:
PMID: _________________
Figure #: _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Gross description
Description of the excised specimen.
Gross images
Images of the excised specimen. For images you submit, provide a brief 1 - 4 word caption to appear below the thumbnail of the image and a longer figure legend to appear when the image is opened. If you do not have your own images, refer to the Case reports section for how to provide links to journal images, and provide links with a brief 1 - 4 word caption.
For images to be posted on PathologyOutlines.com, please fill out the following for each image:
Name of image contributor: _________________
Image title (file name): _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Legend (detailed description): _________________
For images linked to an outside website, please fill out the following for each image:
PMID: _________________
Figure #: _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Frozen section description
Description of the tissue at frozen section, focusing on features relevant to the intraoperative differential diagnosis.
Frozen section images
Images of the specimen at frozen section. Touch preparations and smears should not be in this section (include in cytology images). For images you submit, provide a brief 1 - 4 word caption to appear below the thumbnail of the image and a longer figure legend to appear when the image is opened.
For images to be posted on PathologyOutlines.com, please fill out the following for each image:
Name of image contributor: _________________
Image title (file name): _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Legend (detailed description): _________________
For images linked to an outside website, please fill out the following for each image:
PMID: _________________
Figure #: _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Microscopic (histologic) description
List microscopic diagnostic criteria first, if they exist. Then common and uncommon histologic features, associated features and microscopic grading criteria if applicable. Include classification systems here or under clinical features.
Microscopic (histologic) images
The author must take and submit a minimum of 6 high quality representative micro images. Include low and high power H&E images and relevant immunostains and special stains. For each image, submit both a caption and a figure legend in the manuscript word document. Do not include your name, twitter handle, institution or logo on the image. The caption will appear below the thumbnail of the image and should be 1 - 4 words describing the image findings, such as "cytologic atypia", "chronic inflammation", "epithelioid cells", "chromogranin" or "AE1 / AE3". Do not use captions such as "Case 1", "Various images", "H&E", "100x" or the diagnosis. The figure legend will appear when the image is open and must contain all relevant information including site, procedure, diagnosis, key histologic findings and stain if other than H&E. Do not use figure legends such as "Case 1" or "Representative images". We will remove all existing outside micro images.
For images to be posted on PathologyOutlines.com, please fill out the following for each image:
Name of image contributor: _________________
Image title (file name): _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Legend (detailed description): _________________
Click here for detailed image instructions:
Virtual slides
Please check this site: University of Toronto. Provide a brief 1 - 4 word caption for each slide. If no virtual slides found, please advise. Contact us for instructions on how to submit virtual slides. Please limit slides to 6 per topic and only include the most relevant / representative slides.
Cytology description
Cytologic features and limitations.
Cytology images
Cytology images, if clinically appropriate. For images you submit, provide a brief 1 - 4 word caption to appear below the thumbnail of the image and a longer figure legend to appear when the image is opened. If you do not have your own images, refer to the Case reports section for how to provide links to journal images, and provide links with a brief 1 - 4 word caption. Include preparation, i.e. Pap, Diff-Quik, cell block, H&E touch, H&E smear. Contact us if you need help obtaining images.
For images to be posted on PathologyOutlines.com, please fill out the following for each image:
Name of image contributor: _________________
Image title (file name): _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Legend (detailed description): _________________
For images linked to an outside website, please fill out the following for each image:
PMID: _________________
Figure #: _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Immunofluorescence description
List immunofluorescence diagnostic criteria first, if they exist.
Immunofluorescence images
If relevant, author must take and submit high quality representative images with a brief 1 - 4 word caption to appear below the thumbnail of the image and a longer figure legend to appear when the image is opened. If you do not have your own images, refer to the Case reports section for how to provide links to journal images, and provide links with a brief 1 - 4 word caption.
For images to be posted on PathologyOutlines.com, please fill out the following for each image:
Name of image contributor: _________________
Image title (file name): _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Legend (detailed description): _________________
For images linked to an outside website, please fill out the following for each image:
PMID: _________________
Figure #: _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Positive stains
Provide a list of the names of relevant IHC and special stains that are positive at least 50% of the time. Stains that are predominantly negative should go in the negative stains section. Begin each bullet with the name(s) of the stain(s). List those most commonly used first. If not uniformly positive, provide percentage of cases. List staining patterns if uncommon.
Negative stains
Include relevant IHC and special stains. List most commonly used first. If not uniformly negative, provide percentage of cases. List staining patterns if uncommon.
Electron microscopy description
Electron microscopy diagnostic findings.
Electron microscopy images
Electron microscopy images. For images you submit, provide a brief 1 - 4 word caption to appear below the thumbnail of the image and a longer figure legend to appear when the image is opened. If you do not have your own images, refer to the Case reports section for how to provide links to journal images, and provide links with a brief 1 - 4 word caption.
For images to be posted on PathologyOutlines.com, please fill out the following for each image:
Name of image contributor: _________________
Image title (file name): _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Legend (detailed description): _________________
For images linked to an outside website, please fill out the following for each image:
PMID: _________________
Figure #: _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Molecular / cytogenetics description
Description of DNA / RNA findings based on testing via sequencing, PCR, FISH, CISH, ISH, cytogenetics, etc.
Molecular / cytogenetics images
Images of FISH, CISH, ISH, electropherograms, PCR gels, karyograms, etc. For images you submit, provide a brief 1 - 4 word caption to appear below the thumbnail of the image and a longer figure legend to appear when the image is opened. If you do not have your own images, refer to the Case reports section for how to provide links to journal images, and provide links with a brief 1 - 4 word caption.
For images to be posted on PathologyOutlines.com, please fill out the following for each image:
Name of image contributor: _________________
Image title (file name): _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Legend (detailed description): _________________
For images linked to an outside website, please fill out the following for each image:
PMID: _________________
Figure #: _________________
Caption (1 - 4 words): _________________
Videos
Links to YouTube or other sites or create your own (preferably 5 minutes or less). Provide a caption for each video. Dr. Gardner has many skin and soft tissue videos on his YouTube page. Pathweb Teacher has many pathology videos with gross, microscopic and cytologic features on YouTube.
Sample pathology report
Provide an example of a typical diagnostic report for this diagnosis. This is very useful for residents and new pathologists. Begin with a line that states the organ and procedure in the format "Organ, procedure:". On the following lines provide the diagnosis. Include all information that would be in a diagnosis except for the synoptic report. State "(see synoptic report)" at the end of the diagnosis line if a synoptic report would be included. Please indicate if the diagnosis need not be reported but could be included in the microscopic description. If you would include a comment in your report, state "(see comment)" and on the next line include your comment with all content that you would write in your report. Refer to these examples: Soft tissue - EWSR1-SMAD3 rearranged fibroblastic tumor and Vulva, vagina & female urethra - Smooth muscle tumors. Please fill out the following:
Differential diagnosis
List names of entities in order from most to least important. Use short, concise bullets to include the most important differentiating features that are present or absent in the differential diagnosis entity, not the topic diagnosis. Do not describe the features of the topic diagnosis in this section. If possible, include images from the differential diagnosis entity (micro, gross, IHC, other) that emphasize the differentiating features, for example, see Solitary bone cyst. These images can be from your own collection or from our website. Captions are suggested to emphasize the differentiating features. We will link the differential diagnosis entity to the webpage on our site.
Additional references
General references for this topic not included above.
Board Review Question(s)
Prepare 2 board review style questions that highlight important content from this topic. If the topic describes a very rare entity, 1 question testing basic information is sufficient. If the topic describes a very common entity, 3 questions testing basic information are suggested. These are not actual questions from the Pathology boards but review questions written in a similar format. The questions should test basic, essential diagnostic concepts that all pathologists should know rather than minor details. The tested concepts should come from the Essential features, Microscopic description or Positive / Negative stains sections. All information relevant to correct and incorrect answers should be found in the topic. Do not test molecular information unless that information is critical to routine patient management. It is suggested that all questions include an image even if the image is not needed to answer the question but at least the first question must contain an image of the entity described in the topic followed by a multiple choice question such as "The following tumor is found in the lung. What is the diagnosis?" The image can be reused from the topic and can be any type of image (ex: gross, H&E, IHC, special stain, cytology, EM, IF, molecular). If the image is reused from the topic, please specify which image should be used. If there is no image, indicate "no image". Do not use the question stem format "Which of the following is false?" Questions should have only one answer. Do not use responses such as "all of the above", "none of the above", "A and C", etc. This question will be part of our Board Review page so the reader will not know the topic with which it is associated. Therefore you must make the organ clear in the question and you must make the diagnosis clear in the answer. Click here for an example.
Board Review Answer(s)
Answers to the Question(s) above, sorted alphabetically by the first letter in the answer. Include an explanation of why the correct answer is correct and the other options are incorrect. Please fill out the following:
[letter] . [correct answer] . [explanation] . Answer [letter] is incorrect because [explanation] . Answer [letter] is incorrect because [explanation] . Answer [letter] is incorrect because [explanation] .
