Use of Intraoperative Frozen Section in the Surgical Management of Patients with Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative frozen section (IFS) is often utilised in the surgical treatment of nonmelanocytic skin cancer (NMSC) in sensitive facial regions when Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) is not available. OBJECTIVE: To compare the outcome of NMSC patients with excision performed with and without IFS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective, single-centre study was performed on all patients who had undergone resection of NMSC with and without IFS control at the National University Hospital (NUH) from 2010 to 2015. RESULTS: 116 patients were recruited, of which 86 had IFS and 30 did not. The complete excision rate of patients with IFS was higher at 87.2% (p=0.0194), need for secondary operation was lower at 1.2% (p=0.005), and need for postsurgery radiotherapy or chemotherapy was lower at 1.2% (p=0.001). The average duration of surgery in patients who underwent IFS was 95.4 minutes compared to 70.1 minutes in cases which did not undergo IFS. CONCLUSION: Our study showed an increased complete excision rate and reduced need for secondary surgeries and adjuvant therapy in patients with IFS. However, a longer operative duration was required. Use of IFS may be useful in patients with NMSC lesions in sensitive regions requiring complex reconstruction after tumour excision.