International Society of Urological Pathology
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the International Society of Urological Pathology held at the Baltimore Convention Center (BCC Room 314) on Sunday 24th March at 1.30pm.
Present: Prof Glen Kristiansen (President), Prof. Kenneth Iczkowski (past-President), Prof. Liang Cheng (President-Elect), Prof. Michelle Downes (Secretary-elect), Dr. Nancy Greenland (Treasurer), and other members of the Society.
1. Call to order
The President, Prof. Glen Kristiansen, called the meeting to order and welcomed the participants.
2. Apologies
Apologies were received from Arno Van Leenders (European Councillor) and Jon Oxley (Secretary).
3. Minutes of previous meetings
The minutes of the Annual General Meeting held in New Orleans, USA, on Sunday 12th March were circulated to all members and are available on the website. These were also shown in the presentation, taken as read and approved by all.
4. Reports
4.1: Report of the President
Glen Kristiansen addressed the meeting, and gave an overview of last year’s achievements and activities of the ISUP.
First, the composition of the Council was explained. In the last year, a very tight and constructive collaboration was achieved among the three presidents. Nancy Greenland has done an outstanding job as treasurer. New to the council were the co-opted social media officers Katrina Collins and Charlotte Kweldam. In the last year, we had 8 council meetings, of which 1 took place in person (Dublin), whereas the others were Zoom meetings.
ISUP Presents has been successfully continued in 2023 with brillant lectures, which were well received. The curation of ISUP Presents has been taken over by Sara Wobker, who was praised for her activities. Late 2024 will see the beginning of lectures in additional languages, commencing with spanish.
The Case of the Month (COTM) is now organized by Katrina Collins and we ask anyone to contribute interesting cases.
In 2023 we held the Consensus Conference on the Best Practice Recommendations on the Pathology of Urachal Neoplasms and Glandular Lesions of the Urinary Bladder. On 8th September 2023 – preceding the ESP in Dublin. Organizing chairs are Gladell P. Paner and Henning Reis.
• There were 77 participants from 19 different countries.
• Consensus agreement reached on 34 (89%) of the 38 proposed statements.
Four working groups sessions covered:
a) diagnosis and classification of urachal neoplasms, including criteria and ancillaries,
b) specimen handling, staging, and reporting of prognostic parameters for urachal neoplasms,
c) diagnosis and classification of glandular lesions of bladder and pouches, including criteria and ancillaries, and
d) molecular features of urachal neoplasms and bladder glandular neoplasms.
At this conference it was suggested (Prof. Guido Sauter) to start a collection of these very rare tumors to build a basis for scientific analysis. This idea was conveyed by ISUP to the CC chairs, who have now come up with a basic concept to establish an ISUP Expert Group for Urachal Tumors in practice. This will be organized in Chicago (Gladell Paner) and Frankfurt (Henning Reis). Further details are to follow later in 2024.
The next Consensus Conference in 2024 will be the ISUP 2024 Italy Consensus on Precursor Lesions of Genitourinary Organs, Florence (Italy), September 12th. Five Working Groups have been compiled.
The meeting objectives are:
– Define established and putative precursor lesions of genitourinary organs
– Refine classification scheme/terminology and diagnostic criteria
– Provide recommendations for pathology reporting
– Provide recommendations for ancillary studies and diagnostic work-up, including
immunostaining and molecular testing in different clinical settings
– Provide literature review to aid developing guidelines for clinical management
Updating of our website
As the current website has deficits in membership handling and is difficult to expand, we are currently looking to develop a new website. Discussions with potential providers are ongoing.
ISUP Surveys.
We had two Surveys last year.
The Survey, “What do our members want” highlighted that our membership is satisfied with our work and give us good marks for this. The main interests of our members are traditional core values of ISUP, i.e. consensus conferences, conference information, expert education and regular white papers. Interestingly, the majority suggested to raise the regular membership fee on average to $100.
The Survey “Corequest” aimed to clarify, how ISUP members reported tumor content in prostate biopsies. Main results are, that most members reported tumor content in percentages and only a minority reported absolute measures only. As expected, the approaches to define percentages differed vastly, and the most common approach was to divide the tumor length (including intervening benign tissue) by the core length (including periprostatic tissue). However, in an analysis of variances, absolute measures (mm) are more robust. Writing up the paper is underway (Bernhardt/Kristiansen, Bonn) and recommendations on reporting will be included.
Collaborations with GUPS
A joint GUPS and ISUP half day meeting on Sex Cord Stromal Tumors was held on 23rd of March at Johns Hopkins organised by Prof Dan Berney and Dr Andreas Acosta. The productive meeting was called a success by all participants and will lead the publication of recommendations on diagnostic criteria.
A joint white paper on the terminology of low grade prostate cancer is underway in response to increasing calls to remove the label ”cancer” from GG1 PCa and to introduce a category of ”prostate-LMP”.
Another ISUP activity in 2024 will be the participation at the IAP meeting in Cancun, Mexico with a 2 hour educational slot on GU pathology.
4.2: Election of new Secretary
We received one application for the position of secretary. Jon Oxley is stepping down after five years of service to the Society and is greatly thanked for his activities. He is followed by Dr. Michelle Downes (Toronto), her term starts after the AGM.
4.3. Report of the Secretary
Nothing to report.
4.3 Report of the Treasurer
Nancy Greenland presented the Treasurer’s report. The Society currently has funds of $75,500. Expenses last year were $2,000 for current taxes, $5,800 for the AJSP, $5,200 for the Dublin meeting, $1,940 for the website and $1,200 for earlier taxes.
5. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 1.57 p.m
Confirmed April 1, 2024
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President Date