Ahmad Altaleb (editor) - Surgical Pathology: A Practical Guide for Non-Pathologist

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To the public and even the health-care professionals, pathology is like a black box where specimen went in and reports come out in a few days. Nobody knows what happened in the black box and people only care when the report delayed or when the error occurred. Physicians and surgeons often puzzled with some of the terms used in the report. What cribriform, basaloid, alveolar, hobnail, and herringbone mean to the patient? Why does error occur in pathology? The old proverb says, Difference in profession makes one feel worlds apart. The intention of this Notebook of Surgical Pathology is to open that black box and bridge that knowledge gap between pathology and other health-care professions.

This book represents a joint effort of education leaders in both pathology and surgery. It covers a wide range of topics from describing the technical process of pathology and the commonly used terms in pathology reports to explaining the limitations of the pathology as a subjective specialty and different stages of specimen handling and processing that could cause error in the final diagnosis. I am particularly impressed with the figures and diagrams that help the authors to explain a complicated process in a visual, simplistic way. In my opinion, this book will be an excellent reference not only for practicing physicians but also, probably more importantly, for medical students and first-year pathology residents to gain a quick understanding of the basics of pathology laboratory.

I applaud the efforts made by the authors and the novel concept of this book. I look forward to seeing the final print in the medical literature.

This book makes no claims to be a textbook of surgical pathology as many aspects of this specialty are not included. It is rather a collection of summaries in the form of infographics/mind maps and illustrations, in an attempt to simplify major concepts of surgical pathology through high-yield fact pages designed for the busy surgeon and health-care professionals. To achieve this goal, it was deliberate to reduce the text and rely more on visual representations in order to communicate information and knowledge at glance.

The idea to prepare this work evolved from my observations over the years. I have noticed that the vast majority of surgical colleagues including trainees or residents have no clue about the pathologists task and the practical aspects inside the pathology laboratory.

Focusing solely on the aforementioned issue, I decided to abandon discussing pathologic entities and histologic features of diseases, as these can be learned from major textbooks like Rosai and Ackermans or Sternbergs Diagnostic Surgical Pathology.

So, the main purpose of this book is to provide a succinct background of practical surgical pathology, its important terminology, concepts, and some technical aspects. It is also intended to bridge the gaps between pathology and surgery as well as other health-care professionals.

I hope you enjoy this book and find it very useful in your practice.

I owe a great debt to many individuals for their inspiration and support.

I acknowledge my outstanding pathologist, teacher, and colleague, Dr. Issam Francis, who inspired me during my training and was a source of consistent motivation to learn pathology. I am grateful to Dr. Sundus Hussein, my previous pathology program director, for her continuous support and encouragement. Also, I would like to thank all senior and junior pathologists who helped me one day to learn pathology.

It is important to acknowledge the assistance of Springer Nature associate editor Mr. Wyndham Hacket Pain for his most helpful assistance from the first contact with him, and all Springer Nature staff who were very cooperative and available whenever needed.