A retrospective analysis of the accuracy of immediate frozen section diagnosis in surgical pathology.

An evaluation of the accuracy of 3556 frozen section diagnoses over a 10-year period has been carried out. The overall accuracy rate was 97.4 per cent, with umimportant discrepancies present in a further 1.8 per cent. In only 28 cases (0.8 per cent) was a false negative or positive diagnosis of malignancy made. Of these, 4 patients underwent an unnecessary radical operation, while in 9 patients further surgery had to be carried out at a later date. The essential accuracy of the frozen section technique is confirmed.