Accuracy of intra-operative frozen section consultation in south of Iran during four years.
BACKGROUND
Accuracy of intraoperative frozen section diagnosis is an important part of quality control in surgical pathology. In this study we try to evaluate the frozen section diagnosis in our center, a referral center in southern Iran.


METHODS
During the four-year-period of study, all the frozen sections in the affiliated hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences were evaluated. Discrepant cases were studied to find out reasons for their inaccuracies.


RESULTS
In the four years, 759 frozen sections have been done, 25 of which showed discordant results. The most common site of frozen section and discrepancy was in central nervous system tumors. The reason for inaccuracy in frozen section diagnosis in 52% of cases was proved to be interpretative, 44% sampling error and the remainder due to lack of clinical information of the pathologist.


CONCLUSIONS
Accuracy of our intraoperative consultation is comparable with other centers in Western countries. Most of the discrepancies can be prevented by providing more clinical information for the pathologist and more accurate sampling.
Geramizadeh
Bita
B
Department of Pathology, Transplant Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Larijani
Taghi Rezai
TR
Owji
Seyed-Mohammad
SM
Attaran
Seyed Yahya
SY
Torabinejad
Simin
S
Aslani
Fatemeh S
FS
Monabati
Ahmad
A
Kumar
Perikala V
PV
Tabei
Seyed-Zeyaedin
SZ
D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005629:Frozen Sections; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D010340:Pathology, Surgical / Q000379:methods*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity