The 32nd Congress of the Spanish Society of Pathology – International Academy of Pathology and the Spanish Society of Cytology was held from 21 to 24 May at the Kursaal Congress Centre in San Sebastián. The congress featured eleven parallel sessions held in different rooms and attracted over 1,600 participants, with our department having a strong presence throughout the event.

Miriam Castella, cytotechnologist at our Cytology Laboratory, moderated a panel in the section for senior technicians in pathology and cytodiagnosis entitled ‘Beyond Cervico-Vaginal Cytology’. Olga Luque, also a cytotechnologist from our laboratory, presented a paper titled ‘ Gastric Aspiration Cytology: What Can Technicians Contribute? ’.

In the section on quality control: ‘The Spanish Society of Cytology’s quality assurance programme for gynaecological cytology, ISO 17043 accredited, as a tool for population screening’ Miriam Castella presented the paper ‘Where Do We Come From?’, reviewing the evolution of quality standards in cytology over time. As the Technical Secretary for Quality Assurance at the Spanish Society of Cytology, she also organised a cytology workshop entitled ‘Evaluate and Analyse Your Results’, where the top three participants were awarded prizes.

Dr Francesc Tresserra, Head of the Cytology Laboratory at Hospital Universitari Dexeus, moderated several panels and sessions and also presented consensus documents on sample storage times in pathology and cytology, as well as on time measurement for technicians’ work in our laboratories. In addition, he delivered a talk on the current state of digital pathology in Spain, sharing our laboratory’s experience with digital cytology. Dr Tresserra then presented awards for the best quality-related contributions and the Revista Española de Patología awards (a journal indexed in PubMed), for which he serves as editor.

Dr Tresserra has held the position of Secretary of both the Spanish Society of Pathology and the Spanish Foundation of Pathology over the past two years. At the congress’s closing ceremony, he was presented with a commemorative plaque in recognition of his service.

In addition, Gemma Fabra Pañella, another member of our laboratory, presented a poster at the 22nd International Congress of Cytology, held in Florence, Italy, from 11 to 15 May. Her poster, ‘Cytological Diagnosis of Squamous Cell Atypia (ASC) with an Artificial Intelligence Algorithm’, outlines our experience with the integration of digital technologies into the laboratory workflow.