RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Accuracy of frozen section in the diagnosis of liver mass lesions JF Journal of Clinical Pathology JO J Clin Pathol FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists SP 352 OP 354 DO 10.1136/jcp.2005.029538 VO 59 IS 4 A1 E Rakha A1 S Ramaiah A1 A McGregor YR 2006 UL http://jcp.bmj.com/content/59/4/352.abstract AB Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of intraoperative frozen sections diagnosis of liver lesions thought to be malignant tumours. Methods: 285 frozen sections of liver from 173 patients were reviewed. The examinations were done between 1998 and 2004. Results: Final histological diagnosis was divided into positive (32%) and negative (68%) for malignancy. In four cases (2%), diagnosis was deferred to paraffin section. There was one false positive and two false negative diagnoses. Sensitivity was 96.9% and specificity was 99.1%, and the overall accuracy to determine the lesions was 95%. The cases were further analysed to ascertain the nature of diagnostic difficulties, which comprised pathological misinterpretation, sampling error, and technical imperfections. Biliary hamartoma was the most common entity that was confused with malignant tumours in frozen sections. Conclusions: The data are in accordance with those of similar studies in other sites, and confirm that the frozen section is an accurate and reliable method for intraoperative diagnosis of suspected liver lesions.