ACCURACY OF FROZEN-SECTION IN THE EVALUATION OF SALIVARY TUMORS

The records of 333 patients who underwent surgery were reviewed to doc ument the accuracy of frozen section in the evaluation of salivary gla nd tumors. Frozen sections were obtained in 310 patients. The final pa thologic diagnoses included 210 benign tumors and 45 malignancies. The sensitivity for the detection of malignancy was 69%, and the specific ity was 96%. The specific accuracy to correctly identify the type of m alignancy present was only 51%. In four patients, a false-positive dia gnosis of malignancy was made. Frozen section was much more accurate i n the evaluation of benign salivary tumors. Forty-three of 45 Warthin' s tumors were correctly identified by frozen section. Two tumors thoug ht to be Warthin's tumors on frozen section proved to be low-grade muc oepidermoid carcinomas. One tumor reported to be a benign mixed tumor was actually a malignant mixed tumor. In this series of patients, froz en section proved to be no more accurate in the evaluation of salivary tumors than what has been reported in the literature for fine-needle aspiration biopsy.