Intra-Operative Frozen Sections for Ovarian Tumors – A Tertiary Center Experience

BACKGROUND: Accuracy of diagnosis with intra-operative frozen sections is extremely important in the evaluation of ovarian tumors so that appropriate surgical procedures can be selected. STUDY DESIGN: All patients who with intra-operative frozen sections for ovarian masses in a tertiary center over nine years from June 2008 until April 2017 were reviewed. Frozen section diagnosis and final histopathological reports were compared. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of intra-operative frozen section as compared to final histopathological results for ovarian tumors. RESULTS: A total of 92 cases were recruited for final evaluation. The frozen section diagnoses were comparable with the final histopathological reports in 83.7% of cases. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for benign and malignant ovarian tumors were 95.6%, 85.1%, 86.0% and 95.2% and 69.2%, 100%, 100% and 89.2% respectively. For borderline ovarian tumors, the sensitivity and specificity were 76.2% and 88.7%, respectively; the positive predictive value was 66.7% and the negative predictive value was 92.7%. CONCLUSION: The accuracy of intra-operative frozen section diagnoses for ovarian tumors is high and this approach remains a reliable option in assessing ovarian masses intra-operatively.