Compatibility of Intraoperative Frozen Section Analysis with Permanent Section Analysis of Sentinel Lymph Nodes in Breast Cancer

Background: Axillary lymph node dissection is still the standard procedure performed for patients with breast cancer with clinically palpable axillary nodes or positive nodes confirmed by various methods. Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy has recently emerged as a substitute for axillary dissection in patients with clinically negative axillary nodes and can spare some of the patients the need for re-operative lymphadenectomy. Methods: In this descriptive retrospective study, patients with definite diagnosis of breast cancer treated in the Shohada-e Tajrish hospital during 2008 - 2014 were identified. Of these patients, subjects who had undergone intraoperative frozen section analysis of the SLN biopsy and had a report of a permanent section analysis were included. Age and the results of frozen section and permanent section analyses were extracted from the medical records and proceeded by SPSS statistical software v.22. Results: A total of 135 eligible women were included with the mean age of 48.85 11.62 years. Frozen section analysis of SLN biopsy accurately identified 36 positive cases and 89 negative cases with an overall accuracy of 92.6%. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated to be 81.8%, 97.8%, 94.7% and 91.7%, respectively. The correlation between 2 analyses was found to be statistically significant (Pearson’s R = 0.830, P 0.001). Conclusions: Intraoperative frozen section analysis of SLN biopsy in patients with breast cancer is a useful method, which can determine the need for immediate axillary dissection and can spare the patients with positive results, the need for reoperation.