Practical issues related to uterine pathology: staging, frozen section, artifacts, and Lynch syndrome

Abstract

This review covers three areas in endometrial tumor pathology: International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging, the use of frozen section, and Lynch syndrome. The section on FIGO staging will emphasize problems that practicing pathologists often confront, such as measuring the depth of myometrial invasion, assessing for the presence of cervical stromal invasion, detecting low-volume lymph node metastases, and recognizing synchronous endometrial and ovarian tumors and artifacts. The frozen section portion of this review will focus on the performance characteristics of intraoperative examination of the uterus to determine tumor grade and depth of myometrial invasion, including suggestions for alternative methods. The last portion of this review will provide an overview of Lynch syndrome and a discussion of the rationale and methods of screening for Lynch syndrome.