[Quality control at the Istituto di Anatomia e Istologia patologica at the Università di Bologna].

The growing importance in medical practice of a standardized diagnosis in cyto- and histopathology and the recent recommendations for the adoption of standardized schemes for quality control in anatomic pathology by International Committees stimulated the medical staff of the Institute of Anatomic Pathology of the University of Bologna to adopt a pertinent method. The method used by the Department of Pathology of the Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut, USA) was chosen. A Committee for the quality control was appointed and two kinds of controls were set up: an External Quality Assessment (review of the difficult cases by external experts, slide seminars) and an Internal Quality Assessment performed by the members of the Committee on the diagnostic and laboratory routine of the Institute. Such a survey is periodically monitored during the monthly meetings of the Committee and described in the monthly reports. The present paper illustrates the method adopted and the preliminary results obtained in order to stimulate the discussion of such a critical theme in contemporary Anatomic Pathology at a national level.