Tonsillectomy: a clinical study comparing the effects of local versus general anesthesia.

The purpose of tonsillectomy is the complete removal of the palatine tonsils with minimal blood loss while avoiding unnecessary trauma to adjacent tissue. Despite the fact that advances in modern general anesthetic techniques have lessened risks, it has not been clear what specific differences there are when using local versus general anesthesia for tonsillectomy. In order to provide some objective information as to the advantages or disadvantages of performing tonsillectomy using local or general anesthesia, a retrospective analysis was performed on 73 fully evaluable cases of adult tonsillectomy performed in an 8 1/2-year period. Approximately one half of these were performed using local and one half general anesthesia. Analyses of the data indicated statistically significant differences in the methods. With local anesthesia the operation required less time, produced less intraoperative hemorrhage, and was less costly. However, there was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative complications or morbidity.