Large specimens, including cancer resections

Major organ resections are usually a form of definitive treatment.

Turnaround time expectation for completion of report:  Three to five working days. Extra time may be required for special stains, immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, other special studies, or outside consultations

Examples: Organs from the following procedures:  mastectomy, partial or complete resections of lung, esophagectomy, gastrectomy, colectomy, nephrectomy, prostatectomy, hysterectomy, salpingoopherectomy

Mastectomy specimen with cancer

Intraoperative consultatioans (frozen sections) provide the surgeon immediate feedback during an operation and guide the next surgical steps.

• Typical clinical questions prompting frozen sections:
  • Is the lesion as suspected pre-operatively?
  • Are the margins of resection free of tumor?
• 24-hour availability
• Turnaround time expectation for completion of study: 15-20 min
• Accuracy:  less than two percent are discordant with permanent sections