Rapid tissue diagnosis during operation has lately fallen into discredit. While many surgeons still are enthusiastic about it, leading pathologists have recently criticized this method as not only unreliable but unnecessary.

According to Simpson,¹ "the Frozen Section Fetish appeals to the surgeon mainly because it adds to the drama in the operating theatre. What better impression can the surgeon make upon visiting practitioners than to toss a specimen to a waiting pathologist and await his return a few minutes later, often out of breath, to give a diagnosis. If the surgeon has faith in his preoperative diagnosis and his gross observations at the time of the operation, such a practice is unnecessary."

Every one will agree with Simpson that rapid tissue diagnosis as an act of surgical showmanship is unworthy of the pathologist as well as of the surgeon. A simple remedy against the abuse of this method is