Frozen section evaluation of stereotactic brain biopsies: diagnostic yield at the stereotactic target position in 188 cases.

Abstract

We conclude that (1) because 58 (33%) of 177 diagnosed cases in our series would have been potentially misdiagnosed if only one biopsy had been taken at the stereotactic target, frozen section evaluation or cytologic examination of material at the time of surgery should be performed routinely to ensure that adequate tissue has been obtained for purposes of diagnosis; (2) taking up to four biopsies increases the diagnostic yield (from 67% to 89% in this series); and (3) neoplastic lesions are more likely to be definitively diagnosed at FS-0 than non-neoplastic lesions.