The future of scientific communication in pathology.

The exchange of scientific information in a constructive, non-competitive way is one of the joys of being a pathologist, especially when involved intensively in the academic world. Whether such ideals are always achieved is debatable; however, the advent of “electronic communication” should impress upon us all that such exchange of information should be rapid, robust, and reliable in terms of content. The latter consideration leads directly to the currently widely promulgated field of “evidence based” medicine and pathology. Communication between pathologists, from all specialties, is clearly essential. This is true both within and between the areas encompassed in the field. For example, I should find myself lost (as a lymphoma pathologist) if I did not have everyday contact with my colleagues who are haematologists. Such a relationship enables rapid and (I hope!) accurate clinicopathological decisions about patient management; furthermore, in such a context, we often arrive at ideas for research, much of which is conducted at a fundamental level. How much, then, of what we read or hear can we believe? This question inevitably leads to the fashionable topic of “evidence based pathology.”