title: The accuracy of intraoperative frozen section of the inguinal sentinel lymph node in vulvar cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Limited data are available for the accuracy of intraoperative frozen section analysis of inguinal sentinel lymph node in patients with vulvar cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-four patients with vulvar cancer treated with separate incisions for inguinal sentinel lymph node dissection between 2001 and 2007 were evaluated in the present study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 44 patients, 3 had a false-negative intraoperative frozen section result due to micrometastasis. No false-positive result of the intraoperative frozen section analysis was obtained. We identified two studies, which exclusively examined the false-negative rate of frozen section analysis of the sentinel lymph node. Data of these 3 studies were pooled, yielding an overall underdiagnosis of frozen section analysis in 6/128 (4.7%) patients, resulting in sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values of 88.5%, 100%, 100% and 93.2%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intraoperative frozen section analysis of the inguinal sentinel lymph nodes exhibits good sensitivity/specificity characteristics for the assessment of inguinal lymph node involvement in patients with vulvar cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology, and Medical University, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Andreas H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Polterauer
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tempfer
authors.forename: Elmar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Joura
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reinthaller
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Horvat
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hefler
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005260:Female; D005629:Frozen Sections; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / Q000592:standards*; D014846:Vulvar Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery