The role of intraoperative frozen section during laparoscopic radical prostatectomy
Prof. Peter Tenke
South-Pest Teaching Hospital, Dept. of Urology, Budapest, Hungary
The oncological safety of the patient is the number one priority during laparoscopic radical prostatectomies. With the continous improvement in the surgical techniques and correct indications excellent oncological outcomes can be achieved, and the functional results become more and more important. The different nerve-sparing techniques offer good functional outcomes regarding continence and potency, but theoreticaly increase the risk of margin positivity. Therefore the EAU Guideline for prostate cancer do not recommend the use of nerve sparing technique in case of high risk tumors.
The use of intraoperative frozen section during laparoscopic radical prostatectomy increases the oncological safety and creates a possibility to correct positive margins during the surgery. Also, using intraoperative frozen section makes it possible to aim for nerve-sparing even in case of high risk patients. In this presentation the author presents the available data on intraoperative frozen section in the literature and the results of his department as well.