title: Microscopic assessment of fresh prostate tumour specimens yields significantly increased rates of correctly annotated samples for downstream analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess if performing frozen sections of tissue biopsies from fresh radical prostatectomy specimens, prior to tissue banking, could improve the identification of the banked samples compared to standard fresh tumour banking procedures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tissue biopsies banked from 332 fresh prostatectomy specimens were assessed for accuracy of diagnosis, comparing two separate methods of tumour identification: one in which tumour was identified in the gross specimen by visual inspection (n = 155) and one in which rapid frozen sectioning was applied (n = 177). The associations with correct tumour annotation and clinicopathological variables, including age, pre-operative prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels, pathological Gleason score, pathological T stage, tumour volume and surgical margins, were examined using univariable and multivariable binary logistic regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the gross visual inspection cohort the rate of correctly identifying and banking specimens containing prostate cancer was 69%. For the cohort assessed with rapid frozen sections, 94% of banked specimens actually had cancer. On multivariable analysis, we found that only frozen sectioning and tumour volume variables were independent predictors of correctly banked tumour specimens whilst all other routinely reported pathological variables had no influence on the success rates of fresh prostate tumour banking.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The success rate for correctly banking fresh prostate tumour specimens is directly related to the tumour volume. Frozen section scrutiny of prostate samples is recommended to prevent misclassification of the banked material.
authors.affiliation: Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kerger
authors.forename: Matthew K H
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nottle
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.forename: Justin S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Crowe
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Costello
authors.forename: Niall M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Corcoran
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hovens
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005629:Frozen Sections; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*