Pathology Grand Round - February 2026 lecture.

TOPICS COVERED

Title: '"The little things are infinitely the most important": harnessing the power of biopsies in lung cancer'
Abstract:
The advent of lung cancer screening programmes in combination with a recent shift of systemic treatment for non-small cell lung carcinoma to earlier stages of the disease, means that the assessment of the initial biopsy of such tumours has become of even more crucial importance in gleaning as much prognostic and predictive information as possible from these often very small specimens. For instance, the indication for, and type of, neoadjuvant treatment depends on the tumour histotype as well as its genomic profile and expression of PD-L1. Moreover, biopsies can yield a wealth of prognostic information which may in future lead to significant stratification of treatment options for lung cancer patients. This lecture will focus on recent developments in the treatment of lung cancer and related scientific work aimed at optimising biopsy information to support personalised treatment strategies for every stage of the disease.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Pathology professionals and academics, PathSoc members and non-members.

SPEAKERS

Dr. Jan von der Thüsen is a histopathologist with subspecialist interests in thoracic and cardiovascular pathology.
Dr Thüsen received his medical training at the Universities of Cambridge (UK, Trinity College) and London (UK, Imperial College), and his specialist training at Leiden University Medical Centre (The Netherlands). His Ph.D. was also awarded by Leiden University for research into gene therapeutic approaches to atherosclerosis.
He developed his subspecialist interest in thoracic pathology during appointments as consultant histopathologist and university lecturer at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and the Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust in London. Dr Thüsen currently works as the lead thoracic pathologist at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), where his research interests include the pathology of neoplastic diseases of the lung and mediastinum, fibrotic lung disease, as well as the pathology of pulmonary and cardiac transplantation.
Dr Thüsen is the President of the British Division of the International Academy of Pathology (BDIAP).

For more information, please contact: [email protected].