Challenges of Frozen Section in Thoracic Pathology: Lepidic Lesions, Limited Resections, and Margins

• Published in: Archives of pathology & laboratory medicine (1976) Vol. 141; no. 7; pp. 932 - 939
• Main Author: Borczuk, Alain C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States College of American Pathologists 01.07.2017
• Subjects: Cancer surgery; Care and treatment; Frozen Sections; Frozen sections (Histology); Humans; Identification; Lung cancer; Lung diseases; Lung Diseases - diagnosis; Lymphatic system; Medical imaging; Pathology; Pathology, Clinical - methods; Product lines; Squamous cell carcinoma; Surgeons; Thoracic arteries; Thoracic surgery; Thorax; Tumors
• ISSN: 0003-9985; 1543-2165; 1543-2165
• DOI: 10.5858/arpa.2016-0415-RA

- The use of frozen section in thoracic pathology includes assessment of peripheral lung lesions with lepidic pattern, with greater emphasis on evaluating lung-sparing resections and margin assessment. - To review pitfalls of frozen section in thoracic pathology; in this setting, reduction of false-positive and false-negative diagnosis in lesion identification and margin assessment is critical. - PubMed search of frozen section lung pathology yielded specific references related to the use of frozen section in the identification of lepidic lesions and the clinical recommendation for margin distance. - Frozen section diagnosis is overall accurate in assessment of lepidic lesions. Pitfalls include rare benign mimickers and more common reactive lesions. Standard approaches to gross assessment and margin measurement require further research with increasing use of lung-sparing resections.