The Value of Touch Preparation for Rapid Diagnosis of Brain Tumors as an Intraoperative Consultation

BACKGROUND The touch preparation technique is an accurate and rapid method, and when used as intraoperative consultation examination technique it preserves a good amount of tissue for paraffin embedded sections. This study aimed at examining the accuracy of the touch preparation technique by comparing its diagnosis with that of final pathological diagnosis made by microscopic examinations. METHODS The diagnoses of 139 central nervous system lesions by touch preparation technique and paraffin-embedded sections were compared. RESULTS Touch preparation technique diagnosed correctly 118 (84%) of the lesions. However, the technique failed to correctly diagnose 12% of the cases. The highest rate of accurate diagnosis (100%) was observed in five types out of 11 types of tumor examined. However, the technique was not able to diagnose hydatid cysts correctly. CONCLUSION The findings indicate that touch preparation technique may be useful in diagnosing tumor type during surgical operations. Touch preparation technique is very accurate for intraoperative diagnosis. However, adequate clinical history, neuroimaging details, and the intraoperative impressions of the neurosurgeons, if provided, help the pathologists to improve the diagnostic accuracy of the technique.