Frozen section is a biopsy procedure done during surgery for rapid diagnosis of a lesion. The surgeon removes a portion of a tissue mass and the pathologist examines the lesion and makes a diagnosis. This provides the surgeon with information necessary to guide therapy, and determine the extent of further surgery at the time of surgical procedure.

The frozen section is indicated for the following:

1.Differentiate between benign and malignant

2.Determine types of malignancy (eg. lymphoma vs carcinoma)

3.Evaluate margins for involvement by malignancy (eg, Basal cell carcinoma)

4.Determine adequacy of tissue for further studies after the patient is closed

5.Determine type of tissue (eg, differentiate lymphoid tissue from parathyroid gland)