Sarcoma surgery: Assess tumor removal with Frozen Section Pathology?

Posted by kyawzinnyunt @kyawzinnyunt, Oct 21 8:16am

67-year old male with soft tissue sarcoma at right heel for 30 years with no distant metastasis. Inferior aspect of calcaneal bone is involved by the tumor seen on plain x-ray. He is planned to do local wide excision with coverage of sural myocutaneus flap. There is no facility for frozen section facility. How can I assess the complete removal the tumor.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Sarcoma Support Group.

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Nov 2 7:10pm

@kyawzinnyunt, I moved your question to the Sarcoma support group https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/sarcoma/

If you are looking for a medical opinion, you may consider submitting an appointment request to Mayo Clinic here: https://mayocl.in/1mtmR63

Have you had surgery? How are you doing?

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Nov 3 10:59am

I want to add that Mayo Clinic is one of the only medical centers in the US to use a tissue freezing process for analyzing operating room tissue samples routinely. Read more:

Frozen Section Pathology Lab https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/mayo-clinic-surgery/frozen-section-pathology-lab/gnc-20556813

EXCERPT:
The frozen section pathology process allows pathologists to rapidly analyze and diagnose tissue samples while the patient is still in the operating room. The rapid turn-around of results saves patients time and money, since one surgery at Mayo can take the place of two or three procedures at other institutions.

How it works
During an operation, tissue is transferred to the frozen tissue lab directly from the operating room. There, it is placed on a freezing microtome machine where the bottom of the sample is frozen within seconds. A razor-thin slice of tissue is extracted from the frozen section, prepared on a slide and placed under the microscope for review. In many other medical centers, this process takes at least 24 hours to complete.

After reviewing the sample, the pathologist conveys the test results to the surgeon in the operating room. Immediately, the Mayo Clinic surgeon can adjust the operation accordingly and avoid unnecessary re-operations.

Further reading:
- Frozen section pathology enhances intraoperative decision-making in early-stage lung cancer surgery https://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/cancer/news/frozen-section-pathology-enhances-intraoperative-decision-making-in-early-stage-lung-cancer-surgery/mac-20591180