Background: Limited data are available for the accuracy of intraoperative frozen section analysis of inguinal sentinel lymph node in patients with vulvar cancer.
Patients and methods: Forty-four patients with vulvar cancer treated with separate incisions for inguinal sentinel lymph node dissection between 2001 and 2007 were evaluated in the present study.
Results: Out of 44 patients, 3 had a false-negative intraoperative frozen section result due to micrometastasis. No false-positive result of the intraoperative frozen section analysis was obtained. We identified two studies, which exclusively examined the false-negative rate of frozen section analysis of the sentinel lymph node. Data of these 3 studies were pooled, yielding an overall underdiagnosis of frozen section analysis in 6/128 (4.7%) patients, resulting in sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values of 88.5%, 100%, 100% and 93.2%, respectively.
Conclusion: Intraoperative frozen section analysis of the inguinal sentinel lymph nodes exhibits good sensitivity/specificity characteristics for the assessment of inguinal lymph node involvement in patients with vulvar cancer.