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CRY CCP Report September to December 2023
2023 was another busy year at the CRY Cardiovascular Pathology Laboratory. We have had an increased number of referrals, with a total number of 571 cases referred since the start of 2023. The number of spleens referred has substantially increased,with 365 referred in 2023.
175 heart cases were referred to our unit during this quarter, coming from various regions throughout the UK and Europe. Both Professor Sheppard and Dr Joe Westaby reported on these cases.
Departmental News
•Professor Sheppard had 20 papers published in 2023. These papers focus on aspects of sport, gender, age, ethnicity and pathological diagnosis of sudden cardiac death in the young, and are a direct result of our CRY funded database.
•We are also heavily involved in the National Sudden Death NHS genetic and family follow up programme as Pathology Lead, giving guidelines to other pathologists in 7 regional centres with coordinators who are essential in arranging the genetic testing and family screening for cardiac conditions.
•The 7th Cardiovascular Clinical Academic Group Seminar was held on the 29th of September. Professor Jeffrey E Saffitz gave a talk on “The role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of arrythmogenic cardiomyopathy”. Some of our staff members attended the lecture, and Professor Saffitz visited our lab on the day and was shown some ACM cases from our museum.
•In October, our unit was featured in a Channel 4 news segment about the case of Clarissa Nicholls, a young girl who died from ACM. The news crew came to the lab to film, and Professor Sheppard spoke about the increased numbers of SCD cases we are seeing come into the unit.
•In late November we had the pleasure of hosting three forensic pathologists who travelled from Denmark to be trained by Professor Sheppard and Dr. Westaby. Birgitte Astrup, Maiken Kudahl Larsen and Trine Skov Nielsen trained with us for 2 weeks between November 20th to the 1st of December.
The pathologists gained insight into the macroscopic and microscopic examination of hearts received into our unit, and were introduced to our database, which they were very impressed by, and stated it would be useful in the development of similar systems in their country.
During their stay, they reviewed myocarditis cases from or database, with the purpose of evaluating new proposed guidelines for the diagnosis of myocarditis.
•In early December, three of our staff members had the opportunity to present their research posters at St George’s University Research Day, showcasing some of the research undertaken here at CRY pathology. Clementine’s poster was shortlisted for the Chrissie Fenske award.
