LAUSR

This is another edition of this iconic textbook of Surgical Pathology, which has withstood the test of time. I cannot recall any office of a surgical pathologist without this basic textbook, that has served generations of trainees as the primary resource of knowledge and surgical pathologists as readily available desktop reference resource. In many training programs in European countries, starting residents are provided their personal copy and often formal teaching activities in a residency program use BRosai^ as a template. In recognition of Lauren Ackerman’s immense contributions to the development of surgical pathology as a core medical discipline, Juan Rosai kept Ackerman’s name in the title of the book when he took over the role of Editor in the early eighties. It is quite befitting that the new editorial team has continued this tradition by in turn keeping also Rosai’s name in the title. It is somewhat odd for a pathologist like me with 45 years of pathology practice experience to now have a BRosai^ not edited by him. For more than 30 years, the pathologist community has stood in awe for a series of subsequent editions, edited by Juan Rosai only. But the team of editors of the 11th edition has managed to maintain the unique characteristics of this monumental work: succinct yet comprehensive, practice oriented, a very readable style of writing, and lavish well-chosen illustrations. The editors are to be commended for the result of their efforts. That having been said, the approach has remained mostly encyclopedic. One cannot help wondering whether a more didactic orientation might have made the book even more useful. Case-based problem-oriented learning has become mainstream, but the systematic approach in the text does not systematically use as (one of the) starting point(s) problems in daily practice. This might be done by including diagnostic algorithms applicable to prototypical diagnostic problems and this might be considered for future editions. The printed volume goes along with free access to a web-based version. This provides excellent online support, easy to navigate, and fast. Numbered references in the text link to lavish lists of references, generally well-chosen, and up to date. These in turn link directly to the corresponding publications via PubMed. A particularly agreeable feature is the possibility to add personal notes. I have an oldfashioned resistance to hand writing in printed matter and the notes option allows to do exactly that, but in the margin of the online version. Gross and microscopic images are plentiful and in print of high quality and on screen even better. Undoubtedly, the editorial team did select the images for the printed version from a large pool of images all of superb quality and highly instructive. It is a pity that (some of) these have not been added to the online version as additional material. It should even be feasible to add digital slides. This would make the work an even better resource and might be considered by the editors and the publisher for future editions. We are now practicing pathology in the post-genome era. A significant part of daily practice of many pathologists turns around diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers. Diagnostic biomarkers, immunohistochemical stains for (differential) diagnosis, are prominently present and tables such as the one in the pages dedicated to the pathology of lymphomas, listing the antigen, the antibody, pattern of expression in tissue along with some caveats, are extremely useful. Often the text lists which antigens are expressed or which molecular events have been found, including those that have no diagnostic, prognostic, or predictive use. Limitation to what has (or is likely to) become standard of care might have been considered. * Fred T. Bosman [email protected]