CORRESPONDENCE The

prognostic benefits of routine staining with elastica to increase detection of venous invasion in colorectal cancer specimens We read with interest the article by Messenger et al1 describing current practice patterns for the assessment of venous inva-sion in colorectal cancer in Ontario, Canada. The authors highlight the low reporting rates of venous invasion across the region with 70 % of pathologists identifying venous invasion in fewer than 10 % of cases. Such rates are some way below the Royal College of Pathologists ’ minimum audit threshold of 25%. The authors report that pathologist