Background: Vivascope 2500 ex vivo confocal microscopy (EVCM) is an emerging optical imaging device that allows nuclear level resolution of freshly excised tissues. EVCM provides, rapid real-time pathological examination in many subspecialties of pathology including skin, prostate, breast, liver, etc. In contrast to traditional time-consuming frozen sectioning and histological analysis.
Aims: To evaluate the current state of EVCM utilization.
Materials and methods: This study highlights the advantages, limitations, and prospects of EVCM in skin pathology.
Results: Our findings demonstrate that EVCM is a promising adjunctive tool to assess margins in Mohs surgery and to provide rapid, accurate diagnosis of cutaneous tumors, infectious and inflammatory diseases.
Conclusion: EVCM is a revolutionary device that can be used as an adjunct to paraffin-fixed, hematoxylin and eosin-stained slides and frozen sectioning. Additional refinements are required before EVCM can be used as an alternative to frozen sectioning or traditional tissue processing.
Keywords: fluorescence confocal microscope; frozen sectioning; fusion confocal microscope; pseudo staining; reflectance confocal microscopy.
© 2023 The Authors. Skin Research and Technology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.