Pathology of the tonsils and adenoids.

Some conditions of the tonsils and adenoids often present problems in diagnosis for the surgical pathologist. These include variations of normal histologic features, atypical reactive and metaplastic lesions, hamartomas, papillomas, carcinomas, and some types of lymphomas. The reasons for errors in histopathologic diagnosis have been emphasized, and the clinicopathologic features that can help to prevent misdiagnoses are discussed.