Evaluation of Frozen Section Diagnosis and Rapid Intraoperative Flow Cytometric Analysis of Oral and Maxillofacial Lesions

Frozen section diagnoses of oral and maxillofacial lesions were performed in 60 cases at the Yamaguchi University Hospital over the course of 3 years. Frozen section diagnoses were mainly used to determine the surgical margins (68.3%) and/or lymph node metastasis (71.7%). Only 20% of those frozen sections were used to obtain pathological diagnoses of lesions, which were uncertain diagnoses before the operation. The average number of frozen sections per operation was 4.4, with 14 being the most. Ninety-eight percent of the frozen section diagnoses were consistent with the final permanent section diagnoses. In some of these cases, a rapid measurement of DNA patterns, using flow sytometry (FCM), was performed. The incidence of DNA patterns, using flow cytometry (FCM), was performed. The incidence of DNA aneuploidy was found, we almost always diagnosed that section as to be malignant. Therefore, the measurement of DNA ploidy patterns would be useful in supporting the frozen section diagnoses.

Frozen section diagnosis

Flow cytometry

DNA aneuploidy