New tonsil technique has less pain

WILMINGTON, Del., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- A tonsillectomy, which removes 90 percent of tonsil tissue but spares the tonsil capsule, may have less postoperative bleeding and pain, a U.S. study found.

The most common complication of the traditional tonsillectomy -- unchanged for 60 years -- is delayed severe bleeding and pain that lasts from seven to 10 days.

Dr. Richard Schmidt and colleagues at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, in Wilmington, Del., analyzed the medical records of 2,944 patients who underwent tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy between 2002 and 2005. For 1,731 patients, surgeons used a newer technique known as intracapsular tonsillectomy, which involves an instrument that removes 90 percent of the tonsil tissue and preserves a layer of tonsil -- the capsule -- over the throat muscles.

The study, published in Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery, found that in the traditional tonsillectomy group, 3.4 percent had delayed hemorrhage and 2.1 percent required treatment in the operating room for bleeding, compared with 1.1 percent and 0.5 percent among those in the intracapsular tonsillectomy group.