title: Accuracy of intra-operative frozen section in the diagnosis of ovarian tumours.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare frozen-section results with definitive histopathological results of ovarian tumours diagnosed intra operatively at the Zonguldak Maternity Hospital, Zonguldak, Turkey.
  
  
  METHODS
  The definitive histopathological results of 278 patients who underwent surgery between January 2002 and December 2008 for ovarian masses and on whom frozen sectioning was performed were evaluated retrospectively. After exclusion of 12 patients for whom a definitive result could not be obtained from frozen sections, the results of 266 patients' frozen sections were compared with those from permanent sections.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data of 266 patients was analyzed. The results of frozen sections were 235 (88.3%) benign, 11 (4.2%) borderline and 20 (7.5%) malignant. The sensitivity was 100% for the benign tumours, 77.8% for the borderline tumours and 71.4% for the malignant tumours. The specificity of frozen section was 83.8%, 98.4% and 100% for the benign, borderline and malignant tumours, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Frozen sections have adequate sensitivity and specificity at the Zonguldak Maternity Hospital, Turkey, and can be safely used to guide the intraoperative management of ovarian masses. False-positive and -negative ratios are low.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Turkey.
authors.forename: Arikan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ilker
authors.forename: Barut
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aykut
authors.forename: Harma
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Muge
authors.forename: Harma Mehmet
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: Ozmen Bayar
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Ulku
authors.forename: Gezer
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sener
authors.forename: Sun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suna
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005629:Frozen Sections; D006801:Humans; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity