An intraoperative study with ex vivo fluorescence confocal microscopy: diagnostic accuracy of the three visualization modalities.

I Ex vivo i fluorescence confocal microscopy (FCM) is an imaging technique that captures real-time digital images of freshly excised tissue with quasi-histopathological resolution. FCM reduces time to image acquisition compared to haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) frozen section analysis.1-3 FCM has been assessed for its application in intraoperative diagnosis of skin tumours, such as rare malignant adnexal, conjunctival and melanocytic tumours, and inflammatory skin diseases.4-7 A recent study estimated an 80% sensitivity and 96% specificity compared to H&E frozen sections for microscopically guided surgery with a previous generation FCM instrument3. The pathologists also achieved >=90% correct diagnoses with BW and H&E-like modalities, but interestingly only concluded 84% correct diagnoses with GW mode images. [Extracted from the article]
Copyright of Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)