Intraoperative frozen section performance for thyroid cancer diagnosis

ABSTRACT Objective: A primary medical relevance of thyroid nodules consists of excluding thyroid cancer, present in approximately 5% of all thyroid nodules. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) has a paramount role in distinguishing benign from malignant thyroid nodules due to its availability and diagnostic performance. Nevertheless, intraoperative frozen section (iFS) is still advocated as a valuable tool for surgery planning, especially for indeterminate nodules. Subjects and methods: To compare the FNAB and iFS performances in thyroid cancer diagnosis among nodules in Bethesda Categories (BC) I to VI. The performance of FNAB and iFS tests were calculated using final histopathology results as the gold standard. Results: In total, 316 patients were included in the analysis. Both FNAB and iFS data were available for 272 patients (86.1%). The overall malignancy rate was 30.4%% (n = 96). The FNAB sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for benign (BC II) and malignant (BC V and VI) were 89.5%, 97.1%, and 94.1%, respectively. For all nodules evaluated, the iFS sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 80.9%, 100%, and 94.9%, respectively. For indeterminate nodules and follicular lesions (BC III and IV), the iFS sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 25%, 100%, and 88.7%, respectively. For BC I nodules, iFS had 95.2% of accuracy. Conclusion: Our results do not support routine iFS for indeterminate nodules or follicular neoplasms (BC III and IV) due to its low sensitivity. In these categories, iFS is not sufficiently accurate to guide the intraoperative management of thyroidectomies. iFS for BC I nodules could be an option and should be specifically investigated

Rectal prolapse repair via vaginal route / Reparo do prolapso retal via vaginal

Many elderly patients have concomitant anorectal, urological and gynecological symptoms involving multiple perineal structures, which require the surgeon to operate in different areas of his specialty in order to correct different dystopias in a single procedure. We describe a technique for total rectal prolapse correction offering low surgical risk for patients presenting with this pathology along with pelvic floor defects. We used a simple, minimally invasive technique, which showed complete success in the postoperative follow-up. The patients showed no peri- and post-operative complications and were discharged briefly after the procedure. Although it was a small sample, there was no case of rectal prolapse recurrence with the technique described. With the procedure described here, the treatment of rectal prolapse is possible with concomitant pelvic reconstruction in a single procedure, which is an interesting approach for elderly patients commonly affected by both diseases, as these patients often have other comorbidities that increase the perioperative risk. (AU)

Muitos pacientes idosos possuem concomitância de sintomas anorretais, urológicos e ginecológicos, envolvendo múltiplas estruturas perineais e obrigando o cirurgião a atuar em áreas diversas à sua especialidade para que possa corrigir diferentes distopias em um único procedimento. Descrevemos aqui uma técnica de correção de prolapso total de reto que oferece baixo risco cirúrgico a pacientes que se apresentam com tal patologia juntamente com defeitos do assoalho pélvico. Utilizamos uma técnica simples, minimamente invasiva e que demonstrou sucesso total no acompanhamento pós operatório. Os pacientes não apresentaram intercorrências peri- e pós- operatórias, e tiveram breve tempo de internação hospitalar após o procedimento. Embora em amostra pequena, não obtivemos nenhum caso de recorrência do prolapso retal com a técnica descrita. Com o procedimento aqui descrito, é possível o tratamento do prolapso retal concomitante à correção da distopia genital em um único procedimento sendo tal abordagem interessante na população idosa comumente afetada pelas duas patologias, uma vez que tais pacientes frequentemente apresentam outras comorbidades que aumentam o risco perioperatório. (AU)