Frozen section accurately allows pathological characterization of endometrial cancer in patients with a preoperative ambiguous or inconclusive diagnoses: our experience

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the agreement rate between intraoperative evaluation (IOE) and final diagnosis (FD) in a series of surgically resected endometrial carcinoma (EC), with a preoperative ambiguous or inconclusive diagnosis by endometrial biopsies and imaging. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed selecting patients who underwent surgery with IOE for suspected EC at our institution from 2012 to 2018. A K coefficient was determined with respect to the histotype, tumor grade, myometrial infiltration and cervical involvement. RESULTS: Data analysis has been performed on 202 women. The IOE evaluation was distributed as Endometrioid (n = 180) and Non-Endometrioid (n = 22). The comparison between the frozen section (FS) and the definitive histological subtype showed an overall agreement rate of 93,07% (k = 0.612) and an agreement of 97.2% for Endometrioid vs 59% for Non-Endometrioid tumors. The FIGO system grading was the same in 91,1% of patients, none was upgraded and in 8,9% downgraded. Observed agreements were 89,11% and 95,54% for myometrial and cervical involvement, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The good agreement between intraoperative grading, myometrial invasion and their histological definition on permanent sections highlights that FS is a good predictor for surgical outcome, in particular in presence of a preoperative ambiguous or inconclusive diagnostic evaluation.