ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy using frozen sections only and a combination of imprint cytology and frozen sections. MATERIAL AND METHODS: After introduction of imprint cytology as a supplement to frozen sections in 1999, 153 patients with brain tumours underwent stereotactic or open surgery. An equal number of cases prior to 1999 were chosen for comparison. Intraoperative diagnoses were compared with final diagnoses based on paraffin sections of the same tissue samples. The number of delayed intraoperative diagnoses was noted in each patient group. RESULTS: The combined use of the two techniques improved intraoperative diagnostic accuracy from 87 to 91% while the delayed intraoperative diagnoses were significantly reduced from 30 to 8. The choice of surgical procedure did not affect the outcome of the pathological investigations. CONCLUSION: A combination of frozen sections and imprints significantly reduced the number of delayed intraoperative diagnoses. Intraoperative diagnostic accuracy was improved, although not to a statistically significant level. Choice of surgical procedure did not affect the diagnostic outcome.
Subject(s)
Brain Neoplasms/diagnosis , Brain/pathology , Frozen Sections , Paraffin Embedding , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Biopsy , Brain Neoplasms/pathology , Child, Preschool , Craniotomy , Diagnosis, Differential , Female , Humans , Infant , Intraoperative Period , Male , Middle Aged , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Absenteeism because of illness was recorded for 346 children and 98 staff members at eight daycare centers in Gothenburg during a nine-month period between October 1987 and June 1988. A comparison was made with a similar, nationwide study, carried out in 1977 by the Swedish Central Bureau of Statistics. This comparison demonstrated that the absence of children and employees from daycare centers for health reasons was of the same proportion in the present study as that reported a decade earlier. Absenteeism because of illness among the 346 children at the daycare centers was also compared with absenteeism among 49 children in 14 groups run according to the three-family system (three to six children/group). It was found that absenteeism was at least twice as frequent among children at daycare centers than among those in the three-family system.
