A new method of surgical margin assuring for abdominal radical trachelectomy in frozen section.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to introduce a new method of assuring surgical margins for abdominal radical trachelectomy (ART) and report our experience using the method.

METHODS: We combined transverse and perpendicular sections to assess surgical margins of specimens from RT. All surgeries from 1st August 2012 to 1st October 2013 were performed by one surgeon. The frozen section (FS) was consistently performed by a group of gynaecologic pathologists according to the detailed protocol described in this article. All cases were prepared by the same pathologist, and the slides were reviewed by two pathologists.

RESULTS: There were 53 patients treated using the new method in our institution. The patient ages ranged from 20 to 41 years old (median 32). The surgeries were performed for clinical stage IA (n = 11) with LVSI and IB (n = 42) tumours (40 squamous cell carcinoma, 11 adenocarcinoma, two adenosquamous and two others). In 20 (37.74%) cases, no residual tumour of the ART specimen on frozen section was observed in the specimens as it was cleared by the preceding loop electrical excision procedure (LEEP) or conization. The margins were initially reported as negative in 45 cases and positive in nine cases. In those nine cases, a second slice of cervix was removed and negative in six cases and positive again in two cases, the other one with positive nodes. The results of frozen sections were concordant with the final paraffin-embedded sections. There were no false negative intraoperative assessments. There were no recurrences after a median follow-up of 15.4 months (range, 6-21 months).

CONCLUSIONS: Combining transverse and perpendicular sections to assess surgical margins of specimens from RT makes the protocol simple, reliable and produces accurate results.