Accuracy of intra-operative frozen section in the diagnosis of female genital tract neoplasms.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the accuracy of intra-operative frozen section in the diagnosis of various pelvic neoplasms, including ovarian tumours. METHODS: The retrospective study was conducted at Shifa International Hospital and comprised records of all patients with lesions of female genital tract who underwent frozen section between January 2010 and December 2012. Comparison was made with the final diagnosis after histopathology was performed on examining permanent paraffin sections. RESULTS: The mean age of the 54 patients was 43.70+/-14.8 years (range 19-75 years). The frozen section was accurate in 51(92.6%) cases. It had a moderately high sensitivity of 75%, high specificity of 97.6%, high positive predictive value of 90% and high negative predictive value of 93.2%. Lack of agreement was found in cases of ovarian tumours of the mucinous and borderline variety. CONCLUSIONS: Frozen section showed a considerable level of accuracy when dealing with suspected pelvic neoplasms.