The role of frozen section biopsy for submandibular gland tumors

Abstract

Background

Although there have been several reports of the diagnostic accuracy of frozen section biopsy (FSB) for parotid gland tumors, few studies have focused on its diagnostic accuracy for submandibular gland tumors.

Aim/objectives

This study aimed to investigate the necessity of FSB with regard to its diagnostic accuracy for submandibular gland tumors (SGTs).

Materials and methods

About 42 SGT patients underwent both fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and FSB between 2005 and 2020. The results of FNAC and FSB were analyzed and compared with the final histological diagnoses.

Results

The respective sensitivity and specificity in detecting malignant tumors in 38 cases, excluding the four indeterminate FNAC cases, they were 0 and 97% for FNAC, and 100 and 97% for FSB. Considering the four indeterminate FNAC cases to be malignant, the respective sensitivity and specificity in detecting malignant tumors in the 42 cases were 50 and 92% for FNAC, and 100 and 95% for FSB.

Conclusions and significance

FSB may be useful for malignancy detection as a final histological diagnosis in cases that are diagnosed as benign or indeterminate by FNAC in SGTs.

Chinese abstract

背景：虽然已有数篇关于腮腺肿瘤冰冻切片活检 (FSB)诊断准确性的报道, 很少有研究关注其对颌下腺肿瘤诊断的准确性。

目的：本研究旨在调查关于颌下腺肿瘤 (SGT) 诊断准确性方面, 使用FSB 的必要性。

材料和方法：在 2005 年和 2020 年期间, 约 42 例 SGT 患者同时接受了细针抽吸细胞学检查(FNAC) 和 FSB 。 对FNAC 和 FSB 的结果进行了分析, 并将其与最终的组织学诊断比较。

结果：38例恶性肿瘤检测的敏感性和特异性分别是, FNAC 为 0 和 97%, FSB 为 100 和 97%, 除了四个不确定的 FNAC 病例外。考虑到4例不确定的FNAC病例为恶性, 42例检测恶性肿瘤的敏感性和特异性分别是, FNAC为50%和92%, FSB 为100%和95%。

结论和意义：在通过FNAC 诊断为良性或不确定的SGT病例中, 使用FSB作为终极组织学诊断, 可能有助于恶性肿瘤检测。

Keywords:

• Submandibular gland
• malignant
• benign
• fine-needle aspiration cytology
• frozen section biopsy

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.