[Intraoperative pathological rapid investigations in breast surgery]

In breast surgery intraoperative frozen sections for the diagnosis of malignancy has lost impact and has largely been replaced by preoperative core needle biopsies. Nevertheless, there is still need for immediate pathological investigation of native breast tissue during surgery due to three reasons: (1) macroscopic and microscopic evaluation of resection margins, (2) the histological analysis of sentinel lymph nodes in order to circumvent secondary axillary surgery and (3) the preparation of native tissue for tumor banking or measurement of biomarkers. Because histology provides only a facultative component of immediate pathological examination of breast specimens during surgery, the term frozen section does not seem to be appropriate anymore. Intraoperative evaluation of resection specimens by pathologists provides surgically relevant information immediately, guarantees standardized preparation and fixation of specimens and enables tissue banking of native tissue for assessment of biological markers.