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Updated: Jun 22, 2026
A Rapid Method for Multispectral Fluorescence Imaging of Frozen Tissue Sections
Published on: March 30, 2020
[Accuracy of frozen section diagnosis: an analysis of 1695 consecutive cases]
Faten Farah-Klibi1, Olfa Néji, Mohamed Ferjaoui
1Laboratoire d'Anatomie et de Cytologie Pathologiques, Hôpital Charles Nicolle, Tunis.
Background:
The intraoperative frozen section is a well established procedure for rapid diagnosis that helps in making therapeutic decisions.
Aim:
Assessment of the accuracy of frozen section diagnosis and analysis of the causes of its discordance.
Methods:
A retrospective review of 1695 surgical specimens performed in 1207 patients between January 2002 and April 2005. Frozen section results were compared with the final diagnoses in paraffin sections.
Results:
The frozen section diagnosis was benign in 84.2%, malignant in 10.2% and borderline in 0.4% of all cases. The frozen section result was deffered to permanent section in 5.2%. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 84.6%, 99.8%, 98.2% and 97.8% respectively. Overall diagnostic agreement was 97.5% (Kappa=0.88). Frozen section diagnosis was incorrect in 2.5% of cases. Most of the discrepancies were false negative cases frequently due to sampling errors and misinterpretation. False positive cases were always related with misinterpretation.
Conclusion:
The frozen section evaluation is highly accurate and reliable. However, the surgeon and the pathologist must be aware of its limitations.