Comparison of intraoperative histopathological evaluation (frozen examination) and postoperative histopatology results in parotis tumors

Major salivary gland neoplasms account 3-4% of all head and neck tumors, while salivary gland malignancies account 4% of all malignancies. 80-85% of these neoplasms originate from the parotid gland. The patient should be evaluated clinically, radiologically and pathologically and by then the correct treatment protocol should be decide. Frozen examination, which is an intraoperative histopathological evaluation method, is mostly used to determine the presence and nature of the lesion, surgical margins and whether the material is diagnostic. In this study, we aimed to investigate the necessity and safety of frozen examination in parotid tumors. A total of 107 patients who underwent frozen examination during parotidectomy were included in the study. Frozen examinations, postoperative histopathology and recorded fine needle aspiration biopsy results were retrospectively reviewed. In the study, 77% of patients were reported to be benign (n = 82) and 10% malignant (n = 11) by frozen examination. Postoperative histopathological diagnosis of the patients (n = 107) revealed that 82% were benign (n = 88) and 18% were malignant (n = 18). Postoperative histopathology and frozen examination results were compared. In our study, the accuracy of frozen examination was 98%, sensitivity 95%, specificity 90% close to the literature. In our study, accuracy, sensitivity and specificity rates were found close to the literature. However, it should be kept in mind that it is very important to obtain accurate sections from the material and to experience the pathologist in the accuracy of frozen examination. Therefore, treatment should not be planned according to the results of frozen examination only, clinical findings and other diagnostic methods should be considered.