The ability to evaluate prognostic variables on frozen section in hysterectomies performed for endometrial carcinoma

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of the pathologist to assess intraoperatively the hysterectomy specimen in patients with endometrial carcinoma. The past few years have seen the definition of prognostic variables that predict the ultimate outcome of patients with endometrial carcinoma. As a result, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) revised the staging system to take into account such prognostic factors as grade, depth of myometrial penetration by tumor, cervical involvement, adnexal metastasis, peritoneal cytology, and involvement of pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes. The need for node evaluation has led to considerable controversy as to whether all hysterectomies for Stage I disease should be performed by gynecologic oncologists. To help predict which patients will need node sampling, several published studies have shown that determination of depth of myometrial penetration can be accomplished by gross evaluation of the uterine specimen, and even more accurately on frozen section. These studies recorded excellent results, but were limited to evaluation by pathologists with specific expertise in gynecologic pathology. The current study evaluated the ability to assess tumor grade, depth of invasion, and presence of cervical invasion by intra-operative evaluation of sixty hysterectomy specimens from patients with clinical Stage I disease. The gross and frozen section reports used for this study were produced by anatomic pathologists ranging in experience level from lecturer to professor, with varying levels of experience in gynecologic pathology. Our results indicate that the level of experience of the pathologist does not affect the ability to accurately assess the specimen for the parameters described. This, in turn, allows the surgeon to correctly determine the need for lymph node sampling in 94% of cases.