Post-tonsillectomy haemorrhage and analgesics. A comparative study of acetylsalicylic acid and paracetamol.

In a prospective randomized clinical study the incidence of post-tonsillectomy haemorrhage was studied in 832 patients receiving either acetylsalicylic acid or paracetamol as postoperative analgesic (423 and 409 patients, respectively). Of 27 patients experiencing 1 or more bleeding episodes postoperatively, 18 received acetylsalicylic acid and 9 paracetamol. No difference was found regarding the incidence of bleeding within the first 24 h but, later on, a significantly lower incidence of secondary bleeding occurred in the paracetamol group (0.5%) compared with the acetylsalicylic acid group (3.1%). We conclude that acetylsalicylic acid is not the optimum postoperative analgesic following tonsillectomy and that other alternatives must be sought.