Moesgaard Lise, Mirz Frank
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Holstebro Hospital, Denmark.
Dan Med J. 2012 Jan;59(1):A4355.
Tonsillectomy may be performed by several methods. It is continuously being discussed which method is preferable with regard to postoperative haemorrhage, pain, activity and nutrition.
The present study is a prospective non-randomized study of tonsillectomy. It included 198 patients aged 14-40 years who either underwent coblation tonsillectomy or traditional "cold" tonsillectomy after random allocation to different surgeons. A total of 51 patients underwent coblation tonsillectomy and 147 patients underwent traditional tonsillectomy. We tested the hypothesis that there is no difference in postoperative pain experience between the two surgical techniques. The patients were followed for nine days postoperatively. They filled in a questionnaire on postoperative pain score, activity level and food intake.
We found no statistically significant difference in pain perception between the two groups and there was no difference in their levels of activity. The intraoperative haemorrhage was significantly reduced in the coblation tonsillectomy group, but there was no difference in postoperative haemorrhage between the two groups.
The overall results of this study suggest that neither coblation tonsillectomy nor traditional tonsillectomy enjoys an advantage over the other in patients aged 14-40 years.
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