Results of examination and treatment of 3794 patients with nodular formations of the thyroid gland were analyzed. All the operations were followed by cytological investigation of the intraoperation scrape whose results determined the indications to urgent histological investigation. It was shown that the data of intraoperative cytological and histological diagnostics were comparable, the cytological diagnosis of atypical adenoma being an indication to urgent histological investigation. Urgent cytological investigations make the detection of thyroid cancer 2 times higher and risk of reoperations 10 times less at this nozology. The data obtained demonstrate effectiveness of the intraoperative cytological investigation in the present-day diagnostics of pretumor diseases and tumors of the thyroid gland.