Herein summarized are (1) principles of quality assurance in the pathology laboratory, (2) the objectives, and (3) details on the quality assurance program at the Kawasaki Medical School Hospital. The most important points in quality assurance are to recognize its significance and to continue to pursue it. Each laboratory is encouraged to create a useful system appropriate to the situation in the laboratory.

*Laboratory of Anatomic Pathology, Kyoto University Hospital, Kyoto 606-8507