Evaluation of Diagnostic Value of Frozen Section for Ovarian Masses in a Referral Hospital in Central Part of Iran, with Focus on Borderline Cases.

BACKGROUND

Differentiating between benign ovarian masses and malignant ones is done using a variety of pathological examination methods. The two most prominent are frozen section diagnosis and permanent pathology diagnosis, the gold standard. We conducted this study with the aim of assessing the accuracy of frozen section diagnosis in ovarian masses.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

We studied different cases of ovarian masses with pathologic studies done using frozen section diagnosis and then compared the results with the final diagnosis using permanent studies. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were then calculated. Afterwards, borderline cases were grouped separately, and the aforementioned values were calculated for both borderline cases in isolation and overall cases.

RESULTS

In this study, 350 cases were included. The women from whom the samples were taken had an average age of 44.44 ± 15.15. Frozen section diagnosis underperforms in borderline cases, usually underdiagnosing them. In this study, we found the overall sensitivity = 82.3%, specificity = 98.9%, positive predictive value = 94.4%, and negative predictive value = 96.3%. However, if the borderline cases were excluded, they change to sensitivity = 82.2%, specificity = 99.3%, positive predictive value = 95.3%, and negative predictive value = 96.9%.

CONCLUSION

Frozen section diagnosis is an accurate and reliable method that can rule out almost every benign ovarian mass. While it is notably weaker in the diagnosis of malignant and borderline tumors, its value as a diagnosis tool cannot be denied.