Intraoperative frozen section assessment in the evaluation of axillary sentinel lymph node in breast cancer

introduction: intraoperative frozen section analysis has become a routine procedure to evaluate the status of axillary sentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer. objectives: to evaluate the accuracy and sensitivity of fs in the detection of metastases in axillary sentinel lymph nodes and to investigate the predictive value of variables such as patients' age, tumor staging, histology, grade, and estrogen receptor expression. material and methods: we analyzed retrospectively the results of 177 fs procedures. the patients' age and tumor characteristics were organized in a database and the association with the presence of metastases was analyzed. results: metastases were detected in 22 cases (12%). all macrometastases and one micrometastasis were detected by fs. additional micrometastases were detected in post-operative analysis, from which five were determined by hematoxylin and eosin staining (h) and three by immunohistochemistry (ihc). fs diagnosis data proved to have an overall accuracy of 95%, sensitivity of 64%, and specificity of 100%. none of the analyzed variables showed significant association with lymph node metastases. conclusion: our results show that intraoperative fs is a highly accurate and sensitive method to detect macrometastases. however, it is inaccurate in the detection of micrometastases. the use of ihc improves the detection of micrometastases in postoperative analyses. the patient's age and tumor characteristics such as staging, histology, grade and estrogen receptor expression have low predictive value for lymph node metastasis in breast cancer.