Intraoperative consultation for ovarian tumors

The primary function of intraoperative frozen consultation is to provide an as accurate and prompt diagnosis as possible during surgery and to guide the surgeon in further management. However, the evaluation of frozen section (FS) is sometimes difficult because of suboptimal tissue quality and frozen artifacts compared with routinely processed tissue section. The pathologist responsible for the FS diagnosis requires experience and good judgment. Ovarian tumors are a heterogeneous group of tumors including primary surface epithelial tumors, germ cell tumors and sex cord-stromal tumors, secondary tumors, and other groups of tumors of uncertain histogenesis or nonspecific stroma. Intraoperative FS is a very important and reliable tool that guides the surgical management of ovarian tumors. In this review, the diagnostic key points for the pathologist and the implication of the FS diagnosis on the operator's decisions are discussed.