Diagnostic value of frozen sections in patients with breast and thyroid pathologies in Hospitals of Babol University of medical sciences 2011 to 2016

this study aimed to determine the diagnostic value of frozen tissue sections in comparison with definitive pathology in terms of its reliability in the diagnosis of breast and thyroid lesions in patients referring to educational hospitals of Babol University of Medical Sciences from 2011-2016.

all patients who underwent thyroidectomy or breast surgery due to a mass that frozen sections was performed were included. Patients demographic characteristics, frozen section diagnosis and Permanent pathology diagnoses were collected and analized.

Of 137 cases(104 cases of thyroid and 33 cases of breast)  who required frozen section,totally, 91 cases (66.4%) were reported benign lesions and 46 cases (33.6%) were reported malignant. Also, based on a permanent diagnosis, 52 cases (38.0%) were malignant and 85 (62.0%) were benign.The diagnostic value of the frozen section in detecting malignant thyroid lesions was 63% sensitivity, specificity was 99%, the positive predictive value was 92%, negative predictive value was 92%, and diagnostic accuracy was 92.3%. In cases of breast, the result of frozen tissue sections is consistent with permanent pathology, therefore, the diagnostic value of frozen tissue sections in determining the malignant lesions of the breast can not be calculated.

Considering the high rate of consistency of frozen sections with permanent pathology in breast and thyroid lesions, it can be concluded that the frozen tissue section is considered as a precise and valuable method.