Efficacy and Diagnostic Reliability of Intraoperative Frozen Section in the Surgical Management of Early-Stage Cervical Cancer.

Objectives: The aim of this study of this study was to evaluate preoperative radiology and histopathology findings in cervical cancer lymphadenopathy detection, allowing targeted frozen section examination (FSE).

Design: A retrospective analysis was conducted of 203 early-stage cervical cancer patients between 2010 and 2019 in a tertiary centre.

Participants/materials, setting, and methods: All patients had histologically confirmed cervical cancer and underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) prior to intraoperative FSE. The primary objectives of the study were to determine the diagnostic accuracy of intraoperative FSE in the identification of lymph node metastases (LNM) in early-stage cervical cancer by correlation with final results obtained using standard histopathology techniques and to examine different preoperative, intraoperative, demographic, radiological, and histopathological factors that could identify those at greatest risk of nodal disease and hence predict those most likely to benefit from FSE, enabling more selective and targeted use.

Results: Nineteen patients were found to have LNM (9.36%) at FSE. Patients were at increased risk of LNM by 6-fold with positive LVSI, 3-fold with MRI lymphadenopathy, and 3.5-fold with MRI-visible disease. The presence of lymphadenopathy on MRI and positive LVSI in combination increased the risk of LNM by 19-fold.

Limitations: We acknowledge that FSE is expensive and time intensive, exposing patients to increased surgery duration and associated risk. We also recognize that it may not be feasible for all patients. Finally, the analysis is limited by retrospective nature of the study.

Conclusions: By application of the preoperative risk stratification algorithm, we may suggest that FSE can be a useful tool in high-risk patients.