Technique of Intraoperative Consultation

Abstract

Intraoperative consultation is a real-time pathologic diagnosis. Specific equipment is required, and careful maintenance needed to assure readiness. This is especially important to support the time sensitive nature of the output. While informative and accurate, intraoperative interpretations are subject to significant and specific diagnostic limitations. Understanding clinical questions and directed sampling of lesional tissue are important considerations. Small biopsies, fatty tissue, and bone fragments are all specimens that require special attention. Digital pathology represents a technologic advance that allows remote viewing of slides and can assist in reviewing prior material. Frozen section is often performed by general surgical pathologists; broad surgical pathology expertise is often needed, and it is important for both the general and subspecialty pathologists to understand pitfalls associated with different specimen types. With these considerations in mind, and with situation specific pitfalls, frozen section is a highly accurate and informative technique.