Reliability of Frozen Section Pathology in Transoral Laser Laryngectomy

Objective: To evaluate the reliability of frozen section analysis in transoral laser laryngectomy (TOLL).

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted for patients who underwent TOLL in a university hospital between January 2012 and February 2014. The grade of the tumor and the histopathological diagnosis were noted. The results of frozen section pathologies and routine histological examinations were compared.

Results: A total number of 84 sections from 21 patients with a mean age of 57.3 years were included in the study. All the patients were operated with superpulse continuous mode carbon dioxide laser with a power of 5-8 watts. Squamous cell carcinoma was histologically diagnosed in all patients. The tumor was grade 1 in 80.95% of the patients, grade 2 in 9.52%, and grade 3 in 9.52%. A routine histopathological examination confirmed the frozen section in 94.04% of the patients.

Conclusion: Laser surgery is a commonly preferred treatment modality in early-stage laryngeal carcinomas, in particular. However, a safe surgical margin is a debate in transoral laser surgery. In light of our results, we can conclude that frozen section pathology is a reliable method to achieve safe surgical margins in TOLL.