Frozen section in thyroid gland follicular neoplasms: It's high time to abandon it!

Alvaro Sanabria, Mark Zafereo, Lester D.R. Thompson, Juan C. Hernandez-Prera, Luiz P. Kowalski, Iain J. Nixon, Ashok Shaha, Juan P. Rodrigo, Antti Mäkitie, Vincent Vander Poorten, Carlos Suarez, Peter Zbären, Alessandra Rinaldo, Alfio Ferlito

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Thyroid nodules are a very common clinical condition. The 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines recommend surgical excision for Bethesda IV nodules. The use of intraoperative frozen section (FS) has been recommended as a strategy to tailor the extent of the initial surgery. We critically evaluated the literature that discusses the utility and cost-effectiveness of FS to make an intraoperative decision in patients with thyroid nodules classified as follicular neoplasm. FS should not be recommended as a routine intraoperative test to assess for malignancy in thyroid follicular patterned lesions due to its low performance; the high number of deferred results; the inability to adequately assess histologically defining features; the improvements in risk stratification guiding total thyroidectomy; and the low cost-effectiveness of FS.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)76-81
Number of pages6
JournalSurgical Oncology
Volume36
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2021

Keywords

  • Carcinoma
  • Follicular neoplasm
  • Frozen section
  • Thyroid nodule
  • Thyroidectomy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Surgery
  • Oncology

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