AJSP2211 - CME/CMLE - A Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment of Frozen Section Diagnosis Accuracy and Deferral Rate across Organ Systems-A Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment of Frozen Section Diagnosis Accuracy and Deferral Rate across Organ Systems

A Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment of Frozen Section Diagnosis Accuracy and Deferral Rate across Organ Systems

Pdf Summary

The study focused on assessing the accuracy of frozen section diagnoses and deferral rates across different organ systems. The findings revealed that 2.7% of the 3,675 frozen section diagnoses were discordant with the final diagnosis, with the highest discordance rates seen in pancreas, lymph node, and gynecologic specimens. Factors contributing to discordance included block-sampling error, specimen-sampling error, and interpretation error. Additionally, 3.1% of frozen section diagnoses were deferred to permanent evaluation, with higher deferral rates in musculoskeletal, breast, and hepatobiliary cases. Measures to improve accuracy included implementing telepathology and conducting daily consensus conferences to review challenging cases. Common reasons for misinterpretation included freezing artifacts, thermal artifacts, and bias from clinical suspicion. Examples from the study highlighted diagnostic challenges and the impact of misinterpretation on patient management. The study emphasized the importance of periodic institutional review of frozen section performance to minimize errors and enhance overall diagnostic accuracy. Further research and continuous monitoring of frozen section accuracy are vital for quality improvement.

Keywords

frozen section diagnoses

accuracy assessment

discordance rates

organ systems

block-sampling error

specimen-sampling error

interpretation error

deferral rates

telepathology implementation

diagnostic challenges