[The value of intraoperative frozen section in surgical management of thyroid nodules. Report of 409 cases].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess the value of intraoperative frozen section diagnosis in thyroid surgery and determine its limitations.


METHODS
This retrospective study examined the results of 409 frozen sections of thyroid specimens analyzed over the 4-year period and their correlations with the final histological examination.


RESULTS
In our series, frozen section diagnosis was concordant with subsequent histopathological examination in 96.6% of cases, discordant in 3.4%. All discordances were due to false-negative diagnoses. Non-false-positive result was found. The global specificity of frozen section analysis for all histological subtypes was 100% and its sensitivity was 68.2%.


CONCLUSIONS
The frozen section evaluation of thyroid neoplasm is highly accurate and specific. A high degree of specificity with an acceptable sensitivity is requested. However, the frozen section examination has still some limits in the diagnosis of microfollicular lesions.
Laboratoire d'anatomie et de cytologie pathologique, hôpital Charles-Nicolle, boulevard 9-Avril-1938, 1006 Tunis, Tunisia. farah_faten@yahoo.fr
Faten
F
Farah-Klibi
Ahlem
A
Blel
Olfa
O
Neji
Mohamed
M
Ferjaoui
Sarrah
S
Ben Jilani
Rachida
R
Zermani
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005629:Frozen Sections; D006801:Humans; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016606:Thyroid Nodule / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D013965:Thyroidectomy; D055815:Young Adult