Preface
With this slim volume, we introduce the Pathology Survival Guide series from Innovative
Pathology Press. Although there are many excellent sources for learning diagnostic pathology, those
directed at medical students are too simplified to be practical for daily work with diagnostic pathology,
and many other texts assume a foundation of more knowledge than many of us have as we begin to
learn about a new area of diagnostic pathology. This series is intended to help residents and colleagues
who begin to tackle an organ system that is unfamiliar to them. Further, in the interest of making the
volumes affordable to trainees and those beginning, we have chosen a soft cover format to contain
costs but not at the expense of high quality images, which we believe will enhance the availability of the
books to those who will benefit most from them.
We begin with mucosal gastrointestinal pathology with the basics and a framework to diagnose
the common lesions together with a few exotic lesions that are important. In some sections, the focus is
on patterns of injury whereas in others, the key is paying attention to the specific type of mucosa that is
injured. We have tried to point out a few pitfalls in each section. We will not be able to create experts
with the material presented, but a road map is provided to set the stage to learn more, and we hope to
pique interest in the topic.
Upcoming volumes will cover breast, liver, prostate, head and neck, frozen sections, skin,
pancreas, bone, soft tissue pathology, hematopathology, and cytopathology, and feature a host of
authors who are superb educators. On behalf of ourselves and the rest of the Editorial Board, we hope
that many colleagues and residents will find the series useful and enjoyable to read.
Elizabeth A. Montgomery, MD
Kiyoko Oshima, MD, Dr. Sc.
Lysandra Voltaggio, MD