A laboratory technique used to freeze a fresh sample of tissue removed during surgery. The tissue sample from a biopsy is frozen; then, it is sliced thin and examined under a microscope. Frozen section is used primarily for preliminary diagnosis of disease and during cancer surgery to determine whether enough tissue has been removed to treat the tumor.
A thin piece of surgically obtained tissue frozen to permit rapid examination of the specimen under the microscope by a pathologist. The specimen is usually obtained intraoperatively, while the patient is still anesthetized. The surgeon’s further action (e.g., to operate, to obtain clear margins, or to close the incision) is influenced by the findings.
This is a technique for preparing a biopsy specimen, which is a tissue sample taken for microscopic analysis. It allows for a quick determination of whether the tissue is cancerous or not.
Frozen section is a method utilized to assess whether breast lumps are cancerous. Additionally, this technique is employed to determine the malignancy of thyroid or intestinal tumors and to diagnose lymphomas, which are cancerous tumors of lymphoid tissue.
During an operation, a frozen section procedure may be performed to determine the most suitable surgical treatment. The surgeon takes a tissue sample and sends it to the pathology laboratory for analysis. The sample is rapidly frozen using liquid nitrogen, sliced into thin sections, placed on a glass slide, and stained to enable microscopic examination of the cells. This entire process typically takes around 20 minutes. The findings from the analysis are then promptly communicated back to the operating theatre to guide the surgical approach.
A slender section extracted from frozen tissue, intended for staining and scrutiny under a microscope.