Intraoperative Decision-Making: A Comparative Analysis of Scrape Cytology vs. Frozen Section in Eighty Consecutive...

Area of Science:

• Surgical Pathology
• Cytopathology
• Oncology

Background:

• Intraoperative tumor evaluation is crucial for surgical decision-making and avoiding unnecessary radical surgeries.
• Frozen section (FS) is the current gold standard but requires specialized equipment and expertise.
• Scrape cytology is a simpler, cost-effective alternative, particularly relevant for resource-limited settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and efficiency of scrape cytology compared to FS for intraoperative tumor evaluation.
• To determine the concordance, sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic times of both methods.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study of 80 intraoperative samples was conducted.
• Both scrape cytology and FS were independently assessed.
• Results were compared against the final histopathology as the gold standard.

Main Results:

• Scrape cytology showed an 87.5% concordance rate with FS.
• Sensitivity and specificity for scrape cytology were 89.3% and 90.4%, respectively.
• Scrape cytology significantly reduced diagnostic time (10 min vs. 20 min for FS).

Conclusions:

• Scrape cytology is a reliable, cost-effective, and time-efficient alternative to FS for intraoperative assessment.
• It offers high diagnostic utility in resource-limited environments where FS may not be available.
• While FS provides superior architectural detail, scrape cytology aids timely surgical decision-making.