Background: The assessment of thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF-1) expression is a useful way to investigate the origin of lung adenocarcinomas or large cell carcinomas when dealing with a solitary lung nodule in a patient with a history of extrathoracic cancer. However, if immunohistological analysis has not been performed before surgery, a peroperative frozen section may be insufficient to distinguish between a primary pulmonary tumour and a metastatic tumour.
Aims: To develop a technique for the rapid assessment of TTF-1 expression that could improve the ability of frozen section peroperative histological diagnosis to answer such questions.
Methods: A rapid immunohistochemical technique (lasting 30 minutes) to assess the expression of TTF-1 was developed and tested.
Results: Among the 45 interpretable cases, results of frozen section immunohistochemistry were similar to those found by the standard immunohistochemical technique for the expression of TTF-1.
Conclusions: This technique enables TTF-1 to be analysed peroperatively, but further prospective studies are needed to assess its usefulness in routine practice.