EVALUATION OF FROZEN-SECTIONS IN GROSSLY BENIGN BREAST BIOPSIES

Breast biopsies have traditionally been one of the most common specime ns submitted for frozen section. However, many breast biopsies now con sist of fibrofatty tissue with no areas grossly suspicious for maligna ncy. Because some physicians have criticized the routine use of frozen sections in such specimens, the usefulness of frozen sections perform ed on grossly benign breast biopsies was evaluated. Four hundred thirt y-two consecutive breast biopsies having frozen sections were studied. Of these, 167 (38.7%) showed a mass by gross examination. The remaini ng 265 contained no areas grossly suspicious for neoplasia. Frozen-sec tion diagnosis was deferred in seven of these cases, with the other 25 8 reported as benign. Ten of these 258 (3.9%) had small areas of in si tu or invasive carcinoma diagnosed on permanent sections; seven of the se lesions were not present on the frozen section slide. Twelve (4.7%) had areas of atypical hyperplasia (10 ductal, two lobular) identified only on permanent sections. This study indicates that frozen sections done on breast biopsies that are grossly benign do not add to the gro ss impression, and may be misleading mostly because of the false-negat ive rate.