Comparative study of frozen section with permanent section at a tertiary care centre in southern rajasthan

Abstract

Introduction: Frozen section diagnosis helps the surgeon to make an intraoperative decision regarding further management. Comparison of frozen section diagnosis and final histopathology report aids in assessing the degree of diagnostic accuracy of frozen section and also helps to identify the potential pitfalls. Objective: To assess the degree of diagnostic accuracy of frozen section in a tertiary hospital in southern Rajasthan and to identify the potential causes of the discrepancy. Methods: In this study total 197 frozen section cases were identified in 2 years. The intraoperative consultation results were compared with final histopathology diagnosis. Data were analyzed and concordance rate, discordance rate, sensitivity and specificity were calculated. Results: The age group of the cases received ranged from 12-80 years with a male to female ratio 1.3:1. Of the 197 cases received, the majority of intraoperative consultations were sought from the head-neck region followed by breast and ovary. The common indications for frozen sections in our hospital were margin status, primary diagnosis and lymph node status. Out of the 66 (33%) cases received for primary diagnosis, 31 (15.7%) cases were diagnosed as benign and 35 (17.7%) cases as malignant on frozen section. The frozen section report was concordant with final histopathology in 190 (96.4%) cases and was discordant in 7 (3.5%) cases with an overall diagnostic accuracy of 96.4%. Conclusion: The frozen section diagnostic performance at our centre appears satisfactory and is comparable with most other similar studies published in the literature. Discrepancies can be prevented by acquiring prior clinical information of the cases and more accurate sampling.