The mission of VCGP is to improve care for animals with cancer through standardization of tumor evaluation and reporting.
Standardize parameters used to assess tumors
- Create guidelines (e.g., mitotic count, margins, etc.) to create a standard method for assessing tumors
- Provide a forum for diagnostic pathologists, oncologists, surgeons and others to comment and suggest improvements to these parameters
Assist in the development and validation of tumor assessment
- Establish standard protocols for investigators to ensure tumor grading systems include comprehensive data sets for assessment of prognostic utility
- Encourage studies to replicate (reproduce) existing prognostic parameters (including grading systems) in new patient data sets and in multiple laboratories
- Develop new methodologies and compare new methods to standard methods (new patient data sets and implementation in multiple laboratories)
- Assess inter-observer variability in the assessment of tumor parameters
Develop a system of synoptic tumor reporting for potentially aggressive tumor
types
- Develop tools to enable pathologists to use synoptic reports
- Propose synoptic reports for specific tumor types
Provide an international educational resource for pathologists and
investigators
- Website, webinars, journal manuscripts, letters to editors
- Create a curated image bank for parameters described in protocols (e.g., MF, AMF, MLF, CPATH, LVI, Necrosis)
- Provide tutorials on parameter standardization (e.g. for mitotic figures and lymphovascular invasion)
- Create and distribute videos demonstrating proper techniques (e.g. for margin identification/inking)
- Provide quizzes for self-evaluation
Promote the use of Guidelines and Protocols by Journal editors and reviewers
as minimum acceptance criteria for published manuscripts
- Create checklists to ensure standard methods and terminology are used
- Require a pathologist review of pathology data derived from case records. Recommend a pathologist to co-author, if one is needed
Establish a veterinary cancer biobank
- Enhance resource sharing for validation studies
- Serve as a resource for assessment of new technologies and validation of existing parameters
- Serve as an international educational resource for diagnostic pathologists and investigators
Christof A. Bertram
University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
Pompei Bolfa
Ross University, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis
Emily M. Corbin
Joint Pathology Center, Silver Spring, MD, USA
Michael J. Dark
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Taryn A. Donovan
Animal Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Kristina Meichner
College of Veterinary Medicine, GA, USA
Donald J. Meuten
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
Frances M. Moore
Heska Corporation, Loveland, CO, USA
Bruce H. Williams
Joint Pathology Center, Silver Spring, MD, USA