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[The value of frozen section examination in thyroid surgery]
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Medical College of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310016, China. dr_zhanglei@yahoo.com.cn
Summary
Frozen section examination is valuable for intraoperative diagnosis of thyroid nodules, improving accuracy and guiding thyroidectomy extent. This method significantly reduces diagnostic discrepancies compared to non-frozen section examination.
Area of Science:
- Surgical Pathology
- Endocrine Surgery
- Diagnostic Accuracy
Background:
- Intraoperative diagnosis of thyroid nodules is crucial for determining surgical management.
- Frozen section examination (FSE) is a widely used technique for rapid pathological assessment during surgery.
Observation:
- A retrospective study analyzed 1,057 patients with thyroid nodular disease, comparing FSE (750 patients) and non-FSE (307 patients) groups.
- FSE demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy (98.4%) with a low discrepancy rate (1.6%) compared to final pathology.
- The non-FSE group had a significantly higher discrepancy rate (9.77%) with clinical diagnosis (P < 0.01).
Findings:
- FSE achieved a sensitivity of 95.9% and specificity of 100.0% for diagnosing thyroid carcinoma.
- The accuracy of FSE in differentiating benign from malignant thyroid nodules was 98.4%.
- The discrepancy rate between FSE and final pathology was significantly lower than that between clinical diagnosis and final pathology in the non-FSE group.
Implications:
- FSE is a reliable tool for intraoperative diagnosis of thyroid nodules, aiding in surgical decision-making.
- The accuracy of FSE supports its use in determining the appropriate extent of thyroidectomy.
- Integrating FSE into surgical workflows can enhance patient management and reduce unnecessary procedures.
