Comparative study of intraoperative frozen section and scrape cytology with final histopathological diagnosis in ovarian masses (a study of 57 cases)

Abstract

Background: Making a decision on the extent of surgery for ovarian tumors depends on intraoperative diagnosis. Aims: The aim of this study was to compare the intraoperative cytology and frozen section for the diagnosis of ovarian masses. Materials and Methods: 57 patients with ovarian masses who underwent surgery for ovarian neoplasms were evaluated by intraoperative scrape and Frozen Section techniques and compared to final histological diagnosis. Assessment of the overall accuracy of the intraoperative diagnosis was classified as concordant or discordant. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, Negative predictive value and accuracy of scrape smear were 89.47%, 100%, 100%, 95% and 96.49% respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, Negative predictive value and accuracy of Frozen section were 94.74%, 100%, 100%, 97.43% and 98.25% respectively. Conclusion: sensitivity and accuracy of frozen section in detecting malignancy is higher than scrape cytology, while specificity in both the methods are same. Frozen section is more accurate than smear preparations in the intraoperative assessment of ovarian tumors in this study. However, the cytology preparation were helpful in supporting the histological diagnoses, and in some cases, provided additional useful information. Thus, cytology has a complementary role to frozen section in intraoperative assessment of ovarian lesions. At the centers where the facilities of frozen section are not available, intraoperative scrape cytology is a useful tool for intraoperative diagnosis of tumor.