Microbipolar dissection vs. cold knife/suction cautery tonsillectomy in children: preliminary results of a prospective study.

Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (T&A) is a common surgical procedure for which many different surgical techniques have been described. However, detailed information is lacking regarding complications or recovery rates for any particular procedure. A newly described technique for T&A, microbipolar dissection (MBPD) is being compared with cold knife dissection with suction cautery of bleeding vessels (CKC) in a prospective study of 200 children aged 2-16 years. Patients are randomly assigned and stratified by age-group into one of two treatment arms. Intraoperative and post-operative measures of T&A effectiveness relative to complications and patient recovery rate are being studied. The preliminary data presented here focus on the reliability of the measures and potential clinical relevance of the findings in 129 of these children, with anticipated confirmation of these tentative results after completion of the larger cohort. Thus far it appears that post-operative bleeding rates are significantly reduced, recovery rate is improved, and return to normal activities are all better in the MBPD patients. Although these data reflect small numbers of children and must be interpreted with caution, it appears that MBPD T&A holds great promise in reducing the morbidity associated with the CKC technique of T&A.