Abstract. – INTRODUCTION: To evaluate in- dications for intraoperative frozen section (IFS) during robot assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALRP) in our series. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Prospectively docu- mented 80 patients with prostate cancer (PCa) who underwent RALRP were evaluated between June 2010 and July 2012. Patients were divided in- to 2 groups according to whether systematically IFS was performed or not. Group 1 (n=66) consist- ed of patients on whom systematic IFS was per- formed, Group 2 (n=14) consisted of patients on whom IFS was not performed. All recorded data evaluated and statistical analyses were performed for determining indications and predictive factors for IFS during RALRP. All patients were operated by single surgeon and IFS, pathological assess- ments were performed by experienced uro-pathol- ogist. Statistical significant p value was p < 0.05. RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 15±6 (25-4) months. Pre-operative prostate volume in trans- rectal ultrasonography (TRUS) was statistically higherinGroup1thanGroup2(p =0.037).Theoth- er parameters were statistically similar in both groups. According to outcomes of our study IFS was a dependent factor for positive surgical mar- gin. Additionally, the cut off value of prostate vol- ume inTRUS for IFS was 55.5 cc for IFS. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative measured prostate volume in TRUS may be an indicator of IFS.There- fore, more accurate information may be given to pa- tients with prostate cancer (Pca) before RALRP by using preoperative prostate volume inTRUS. Key Words: Frozen section, laparoscopy, pathology, prostate cancer, radical prostatectomy. Introduction Prostatecancer(PCa)isthemostcommonlydi- agnosed cancer among men in the world 1 . Radical prostatectomy is the gold standard surgical treat- mentoptionforPCa 2 .Laparoscopicradicalprosta- European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences Indications for intraoperative frozen section in robot assisted radical prostatectomy: a pilot study Y. AKIN 1 , E. AVCI 2 , H. GULMEZ 3 , M. AKAND 4 , M. AKIF CIFTCIOGLU 5 , I. BASSORGUN 5 , T. ERDOGRU 2 1 Department of Urology, Erzincan University School of Medicine, Erzincan, Turkey 2 Department of Minimally invasive and Robotic Surgery Centre, Memorial Istanbul Atasehir Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey 3 Department of Family Medicine, Baskent University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey 4 Department of Urology, Selcuklu University School of Medicine, Konya, Turkey 5 Department of Pathology, Akdeniz University School of Medicine, Antalya, Turkey Corresponding Author: Yigit Akin, MD; e-mail: yigitakin@yahoo.com 2523 tectomy (LRP) was introduced as a minimally in- vasivetreatmentoptionforPCa,before 3 .Itwasre- ported that LRP can provide successful oncologic and functional outcomes as well as open proce- dure 3 . However, LRP is a minimally invasive pro- cedureithasalonglearningcurve(LC) 4 .Afterthe presentation of robot assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALRP), minimally invasive surg- eries almost jumped an age for PCa 5 . Thus, long LC was exceeded. In addition, there are some ad- vantagessuchassuperiorperioperative,functional, and oncologic outcomes with low complication ratecanbeobtainedinRALRPthanLRP. Early recovery and keeping functions such as urinary continence and erection have been debat- ed more frequently as well as removing tumor minimally invasive by RALRP. While removing the tumor and keeping functions in RALRP, it is intendedtominimizethepositivesurgicalmargin (PSM)rate.Thesecanbeprovidedbyintraopera- tive frozen section (IFS). It is reported that IFS can be used for oncological safety 6 . IFS depen- dents upon many reasons such as the experience ofsurgeon,suspiciousintraoperativefindingsand high-risk constellations. There has not been any subjective factor reported for IFS yet. According toourknowledge,thisisthefirstreportwhichin- dicationsforIFSwerediscussed,intheliterature. In light of the data above we investigated the indicationsforIFSduringRALRPbysinglesur- geon and experienced uro-pathologist. Patients and Methods In this prospective study 83 male patients who underwent RALRP were included between June 2010 and July 2012. Signed informed consents were obtained from all patients. The study proto- 2013; 17: 2523-2529