What Is A Frozen Section

The process allows pathologists to rapidly analyze and diagnose tissue samples while the patient is still in the operating room.

What is a frozen section. I will divide these into two categories. The examples below show the same tissue after 15 seconds delay of fixation on. You will receive results faster than when using other diagnostic procedures.

Frozen section a method of obtaining a while you wait opinion on a biopsy specimen. The technical name for this procedure is cryosection. The conversion of water into ice acts as the embedding media for cutting the tissue.

Let s take a look at what a frozen section biopsy surgery involves. Sampling error ice crystal artifacts lack of special studies and lack of consultation. The frozen section procedure is a pathological laboratory procedure to perform rapid microscopic analysis of a specimen.

The cryostat freezes the tissue allowing it to be cut for a microscopic section. Usually used with oncologic surgery. From the time the tissue touches a warm slide it starts to under go significant drying artifact with loss of nuclear detail and leakage of fluids from the cytoplasm.

In my experience when the frozen section is sitting cold on the stage the effect of drying is minimal. The manual of surgical pathology 2 in a section titled frozen sections are not permanent sections points to four reasons. A frozen section cryosection is a pathological laboratory technique used for rapid microscopic analysis diagnosis of a specimen disease.

I would like to discuss what i consider the limitations in frozen section. Common examples include oil red o staining for lipids removed during paraffin processing and antibodies whose epitopes are masked or destroyed by the ethanols and xylenes and heat involved with paraffin processing. Frozen section guide from northwestern university and others frozen sectioning is the method of choice when paraffin processing may interfere with any downstream techniques.