[Diagnosis by intra-operative cryostatic section in suspected malignant melanoma (author's transl)]

In 233 (40.6%) of 535 patients referred for hospital treatment with a strong suspicion of melanoma, a diagnosis of malignant melanoma could be established on the grounds of the macroscopic clinical picture alone. In 302 patients (56.5%) a clinical diagnosis was not possible so that an intra-operative cryostatic section investigation was necessary to determine future operative measures. This gave a clear diagnosis of malignant melanoma in 101 (34.4%) patients and a benign pigmented skin tumor was established in 171 (56.6%) patients. In 14 cases (4.64%) no diagnosis could be made from the cryostatic investigation. In 16 (5.3%) patients diagnosis from cryostatic section had to be corrected after analysis of paraffin sections. Altogether an accuracy of over 85% was achieved.