OBJECTIVE:

To determine the accuracy of frozen section examination for routine diagnostic use in surgical pathology.

DESIGN:

We retrospectively reviewed the experience with frozen sections at Mayo Clinic Rochester during calendar year 1993.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

The results in 24,880 cases (97,914 frozen section slides) processed during 1993 were compared with findings on permanent sections, and types of errors detected were classified into one of three quality assurance categories.

RESULTS:

The overall rate of frozen section accuracy was 97.8%. Of the 2.2% of surgical pathology reports that needed revision, 1.6% were unavoidable tissue sampling errors, 0.5% were errors that reflected change in degree of abnormality, and only 0.1% were clinically significant errors that may have affected patient management.

CONCLUSION:

Frozen section diagnosis is accurate for processing a high volume of surgical pathology cases.