IT IS presently the practice in many hospitals to avoid routine histologic examination of tonsils except in selected patients. This holds true not only for some private institutions, but for some university centers as well.
It is generally accepted in other fields of surgery that if tissue is of enough pathological importance to be removed, it is also of sufficient importance to undergo histologic examination. Indeed, many institutions require microscopic examinations of all tissue removed at surgery. Is it justifiable, therefore, to except the tonsils?
A recent study by Weibel1 suggests that systematic microscopic examination of the tonsils and adenoids should be done only after age 40, and omitted in younger patients. Other reasons proposed in support of the omission of routine tonsil histologic examination are usually based on manpower shortages and problems of similar ilk.
The purpose of this brief report is to suggest that, contrary to the