Improving Global Patient Care: CAP Partners with the IARC-WHO to Streamline Updates to Cancer Protocols

The College of American Pathologists (CAP) has renewed its partnership with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), to continue collaborating on Cancer Reporting and Biomarker Reporting Protocols for harmonized and up-to-date information, enabling health care professionals to manage and study clinical data necessary in improving patient care. The IARC is part of the World Health Organization (WHO).

"The WHO Classification of Tumours series is essential to pathology reporting of cancer and is also a key feature of the Cancer Protocols," says Dilani Lokuhetty, MD, Head of the WHO Classification of Tumours Programme at IARC. "This collaboration with the CAP is a testament to our shared commitment to developing and expanding standardized pathology reporting of cancer worldwide and promoting cancer research."

The CAP values partnerships between public and private sectors to provide top patient care. Under the renewed memorandum of understanding (MOU), the CAP will collaborate with the IARC-WHO to support harmonized cancer protocols to better align with stakeholders across the world.

"The WHO Classification of Tumors provides a global standard for the classification and terminology of cancers that is the basis for patient care, clinical research, and population cancer surveillance efforts," states Joseph D. Khoury, MD, FCAP, Chair of the CAP Cancer Committee. "Through CAP Cancer Protocols, we play a critical role in bridging pathology cancer reporting with the WHO classification, thus empowering many aspects of the fight against cancer."

The CAP Cancer Protocols provide guidelines for collecting the essential pathology and biomarker data elements for complete reporting of malignant tumors. These protocols incorporate the latest standards from the WHO Classification of Tumors and the American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging Manual to help pathologists and laboratories keep abreast of the advances and updates in cancer reporting.

This MOU follows previous CAP collaborations with the WHO Classification of Tumors team.

"The WHO Classification of Tumors is the standard adopted by CAP for Cancer Protocols," explains Dr. Khoury. "This MOU strengthens and facilitates the exchange of information between the CAP and IARC-WHO and aligns the publication of the most recent releases of the WHO blue books with updates to the CAP Cancer Protocols."

About the College of American Pathologists

As the world's largest organization of board-certified pathologists and leading provider of laboratory accreditation and proficiency testing programs, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) serves patients, pathologists, and the public by fostering and advocating excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide. For more information, visit the CAP Newsroom, CAP.org and yourpathologist.org to watch pathologists at work and see the stories of the patients who trust them with their care.