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The Cancer and Leukemia Group B Pathology Committee at 50

Author's Affiliation: National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland

Requests for reprints: Carolyn Compton, Office of the Director, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Room 10A52, 31 Center Drive, MSC 2580, Bethesda, MD 20892-2580. Phone: 301-402-1762; Fax: 301-480-3486; E-mail: comptcar{at}mail.nih.gov.

The Pathology Committee of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) is broadly and deeply integrated into the multidisciplinary clinical and scientific operations of the group. It has five major functions in CALGB. First, it insures the highest possible quality of pathologic data in tissue-based correlative science studies through comprehensive quality control of all tissues collected, banked, and distributed to investigators and of all morphology-based studies done within the CALGB. Within this context, the Pathology Committee has the goal of eliminating, to the greatest degree possible, variation in methodology, interpretation, and reporting of pathologic data that would compromise reproducibility of correlative science results and to assure accuracy, uniformity, and completeness of the pathologic data. Second, the committee provides expert pathologic consultation in the development of clinical trials and correlative science studies that involve pathologic issues and/or materials. Third, it provides high-quality tissue banking and centralized morphology-based technical support services (e.g., histologic sections for immunohistochemistry, tissue microarrays, etc.) for all CALGB investigators. Fourth, it initiates and executes high-quality pathologic research using CALGB and intergroup resources. Lastly, it provides group-wide education on pathology-related issues relevant to trial design, scientific study design, and specimen banking.