Frozen Sections (Wolverhampton New Cross, Walsall Manor and Dudley Russell’s Hall)
Frozen sections are used for rapid diagnosis, immunofluorescence procedures, and in the demonstration of lipids. Frozen sections are commonly encountered in pathology and reasons for such requests include;
- To diagnose a lesion which may result in more radical surgery
- To assess resection margins
- To assess if tissue recovered is sufficiently diagnostic, anticipating further tests at paraffin sections.
Frozen sections are booked in advance via email using two separate streams (see flow chart below) with the requesting clinician giving at least 24 – 48 hours’ notice. To arrange, please contact the Cellular Pathology Department (01902 307999 Ext 88277).
The current ongoing merger of SWBH, WMH and RHH into the central HUB site for BCPS at New Cross Hospital has led to consolidation of Cellular Laboratory Services on one site. There is an objective for some services to be provided at a local site level with the development of an Essential Service Laboratory at each site to enable frozen section work. The establishment of these ESL sites is ongoing and until complete then all frozen section requests will need to be booked as per protocol and discussed with the HUB site as to necessity and timing and will involve the use of a courier service to the central HUB site for processing and reporting.
Frozen sections must not be sent in fixative but sent “fresh” in a sealed container.
The request form and specimen container must be labelled with the correct patient information. The request form should also have the specimen type on it along with the clinical details. In addition to this, to avoid unnecessary delay it is vital that the relevant telephone extension number of the clinician is written clearly on the request form so that the reporting pathologist can inform the requesting clinician in theatre when the result is ready.
Where there is a high risk of a biohazard (e.g., known TB, hepatitis B/C, HIV, COVID-19) then frozen sections are not performed.
In an emergency, an out of hours service can be organised but this will be dependent upon the availability of both clinical and technical staff and therefore cannot be guaranteed.
