The 42nd Japanese Society of Brain Tumor Pathology.

The 42nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Brain Tumor Pathology was held on May 24 (Fri) and 25 (Sat), 2024 at "Kure Hankyu Hotel" and “Viewport Kure” along the coast of Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, which is my hometown.

The main theme of this year’s event was “Brain Tumor Pathology for Patients”. This is because the pathology department is a department that has little direct contact with patients, but it is an important department that is directly related to the diagnosis and treatment of patients. My mentor, the late Professor Bernd W. Scheithauer of Pathology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA, taught me that “the correct treatment of a patient’s disease lies in an accurate pathological diagnosis”. This is why we chose this year’s theme.

Looking back on the history of the society for more than 40 years and the new WHO Brain Tumor Classification 2021, we aimed to pursue what brain tumor pathology should be conveyed to the next generation of pathologists and neurosurgeons for future patients with cerebrospinal cord tumors, and to connect it to the future. Three years have passed since the new WHO Classification of Brain Tumors (2021), and we would like to organize the problems that have emerged and strive to serve as a compass for the future. In addition, although the development of molecular pathology in recent years has been remarkable, it has become more complex, so I would like to strive to organize cutting-edge information. Furthermore, how far has the use of AI for brain tumor pathology diagnosis progressed for patients? I would also like to discuss the following: the case review meeting, which is the centerpiece of the Society, will be held as usual, but with the aim of helping the next generation of pathologists and neurosurgeons acquire brain tumor pathology for their patients, we have devised a "mini-case review meeting" with young doctors serving as chairs and advisors to the directors and councilors to derive the importance of knowing both clinical and pathology as knowledge from each case. In this session, we brought the educational aspect to the forefront, not only rare cases, but also typical cases that young teachers should remember. With these as the pillars of the society, special lectures, educational lectures, symposia, seminars, and general abstracts are prepared.

The "Brain Tumor Pathology Education Seminar," which is attended by many neurosurgery specialists every year, will be held in June in an on-demand format as usual. In addition, as a new attempt, we would like to hold a seminar format on “Brain Tumor Imaging and Surgery” for doctors of general pathology and internal medicine, and intensively conduct brain tumor imaging and surgery in a lecture format, which doctors of pathology and internal medicine usually have little time to study, so that they can make use of it in their medical treatment from tomorrow.

Kure City, my hometown, was the site of the Navy during World War II, and many battleships such as the battleship “Yamato” were manufactured. Therefore, in the Kure Air Raid, half of the city was burned to the ground. Since then, it has been the location for films such as “Jingi naki Tatakai”, “Umizaru”, “Korou no Chi”, and more recently, it has become very famous for the animated film “Kono Sekaino Katasumini”, which depicts Suzu’s life in marriage. The torrential rain disaster in western Japan in July 2018 was a major disaster that killed many people in Kure City, but we are now on the road to recovery strongly.

This time, we are grateful for the cooperation of many professors who participated in the conference and helped us rebuild through food, drinks, souvenirs, etc., while getting to know Kure. In addition, we have received the full cooperation of Kure City Hall, so we would like to take this opportunity to ask for your cooperation.