The accuracy of intraoperative aspiration cytology in diagnosis of ovarian tumors

Objective: To determine the accuracy of cytology in intraoperative diagnosis of ovarian tumors and to compare it with frozen section (F.S) and permanent section. Methodology: We compared the accuracy of intraoperative cytology (I.O.C) with F.S in 105 cases of ovarian tumors received in Urmia Imam Khomeini and Shahid Motahari hospitals during March 2007 to March 2008. Results: Sensitivity of both techniques of F.S and I.O.C was 93.1%. Specificity of F.S and I.O.C were 98.7% and 94.7%, respectively. Positive predictive value of F.S was 96.4% and of I.O.C, 87.1%. Negative predictive value of both methods was 97.4%. Accuracy of F.S and I.O.C were 97.1% and 94.3% respectively. The area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.959 for F.S and 0.939 for I.O.C. Conclusion: These results showed that intra operative cytology can be performed for intraoperative diagnosis of ovarian tumors as an alternative to Frozen Section (FS), however combination of these two techniques is more reliable.