CYTOLOGY OF THE TONSILS

Abstract

The tonsils are part of the lymphoreticular system and their histology is well known. But in spite of the abundantly available material from tornillectomies, records of cytological investigations are scarce (4). This is the more surprising since less accessible organs, for example lymph nodes and spleen, have been examined repeatedly and extensively (1, 3, 6, 10, 11).

This may he due to the still widespread underestimation of cytology in comparison
with histology and has also been mentioned by Leiber in connection with the cytology of lymph nodes. The two techniques - histology and cytology - are not competitive but complementary and their combined use is often of great value for clinical diagnosis (9). The cytology of lymph nodes and the spleen is familiar to the experienced haematologist. From this point of view the results of the cytological examination of tonsils from 103 cases are described here. The indication for tonsillectomy in all cases was chronic inflammation.