The importance of rapid, intraoperative histological diagnosis in the radical surgical treatment of the malignant tumours of the limbs.

During a period from 1971 to 1978 13 cases of limb tumours with suspected malignancy had a biopsy and depending on the result of histological examination of frozen sections a subsequent amputation in the same session. Material included 5 cases of osteogenic sarcoma, 3 cases of mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, 2 cases of synovial sarcoma and 3 tumours of other origin. In 11 cases the radical operation was performed in the same session and in 2 cases surgical intervention was delayed until after examination of the definitive sections.