Report

Sixth annual conference of "Association of cytologists of Maharashtra" " Macycon 2023" was organised at Dr Vasantrao Pawar medical college, hospital and research center Nashik on 4th and 5th February 2023.

The conference was conducted in offline mode after a gap of 3 years and it was attended by over 200 delegates from all over the state. It was held in Ashwini hall of Dr vasantrao Pawar medical college, Nashik. The conference started on 4th February with the talk on fluid cytology - "Effusion cytology : Diagnostic approach and pitfalls" by Dr Gauri Vidolkar - practicing cytopathologist and histopathologist from Mumbai. She nicely elaborated on the intricacies of pleural and ascitic fluid cytology with accompanying cytomorphological images.

The next session was conducted by Dr Rasika Gadkari, Prof and HOD, Govt medical college, Nagpur. She spoke on a topic of ovarian lesions- " intraoperative cytodiagnosis in ovarian tumors : utility and limitations." She nicely explained various methods of intraoperative diagnosis of ovarian tumors with illustrative examples.

Inauguration of the conference took place in Ashwini hall at the hands of Dr Sunil Dhikale, president of Maratha Vidya Prasarak Samaj, Nashik. The inaugural ceremony was graced by the presence of Dean of Dr Vasantrao Pawar medical college, Dr Vidya Paranjape, advisor of Association of cytologists of Maharashtra (ACM) - Dr Meherbano Kamal, Chairperson of ACM - Dr Rasika Gadkari, President of ACM - Dr Leena Naik, Secretary of ACM - Dr Sudhir Sankalecha, Organizing chairperson of the conference - Dr Preeti Bajaj and organizing secretary Dr Rajendra Chaudhari. The purpose and importance of ACM and various activities conducted by ACM were discussed by various dignitaries.

The inauguration function was followed by "Dr Shobha Grover oration" by Dr Roshni Chinoy, consultant pathologist at Prince Ali Khan hospital, Mumbai. She spoke in length on salivary gland lesions- Cytology and concepts of salivary gland tumors. The talk was well received by the delegates . The cytological features of benign and malignant tumors was talked over by Dr Roshni Chinoy.

The next lecture was delivered by Mr Salim Puthuthara - cytotechnologist from Tata memorial hospital, Mumbai. He spoke on a often neglected aspect of Quality control in cytopathology.

Day 1 post lunch session started with poster and oral paper presentation. A total of 26 postgraduate students and senior residents presented interesting cases and case series diagnosed on cytology. We accepted a total of 25 oral papers, out of which 10 were selected for presentation in the main hall. Three prizes were awarded for poster and paper presentation each.

Next talk was given by Dr Meherbano Kamal, Ex - Professor and HOD, Govt Medical college, Nagpur. She delivered a lecture on pap smear - Cervical cytology - challenges of an inflammatory smear. The nuances of cervical cytology were well depicted by Dr Meherbano Kamal.

The final presentation of the day was given by Dr Shubhada Kane, consultant pathologist in Jaslok hospital, Mumbai. In her talk - Adaptation of Bethesda system of reporting to recent updates in thyroid pathology - she gave a new insight on the recent advances in thyroid cytology with respect to molecular biology .

An executive committee meeting of ACM was held in the main hall, followed by Annual general meeting of ACM members.

The day ended with a Gala dinner held at Grand Rio hotel, Nashik. Various cultural activities were performed by the interns and postgraduate students of Dr vasantrao Pawar medical college, Nashik.

Next day started with a release of souvenir at the hands of Adv Nitin Thakre, general secretary of Maratha vidya prasarak samaj, Nashik. The souvenir consisted messages by dignitaries, write ups by the speakers, abstracts of poster and paper presentations and advertisements by the sponsors. The event was sponsored by six different manufacturers of pathology lab related products.

The next session was an innovative concept of slide seminar, conducted by Dr Kanchan Kothari and Dr Mona Agnihotri of Seth G.S. medical college and KEM hospital Mumbai. Cases contributed by 10 members of Bombay Cytology Group (BCG) were discussed . It was a nice study session for the postgraduate students.

Next speech was given by Dr Vikas Kavishwar and Dr Sangeeta KIni from Nair hospital Mumbai. They elaborated on the complex topic of lymph node - Lymph node cytology - diagnostic approach and utility of ancillary studies. All the different lesions of lymph nodes and their mimics ware discussed with a stress on ancillary techniques.

Dr Bharat Rekhi, consultant pathologist from Tata memorial hospital Mumbai elaborated on the mesenchymal tumors - Cases illustrating the upcoming international classification system for reporting soft tissue tumor cytopathology . He took the delegates on the complex journey of sarcomas and the proposed upcoming classification with the help of supportive cytology images.

The last session of the conference was a hands on session by Dr Anupama Gupta and Dr Suprita Nayak from Govt medical college, Nagpur. They had brought an absolute treasure of glass slides of lesions of Breast, Lymph nodes, Thyroid and cervical cytology. An illustrative description of the glass slides was kept by the side of microscopes with markings on the slides wherever necessary. All the common and uncommon lesions were covered in the live slide viewing session.

The conference ended with this session and everybody was enthralled by the discussion on cytology in these two days.

- Dr Rajendra Chaudhari
Organizing secretary Macycon 2023
Associate professor, Dept of Pathology
Dr Vasantrao Pawar medical college, Nashik.