1 of 5 adult tonsillectomies involves a complication

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., April 3 (UPI) -- One in 5 U.S adults who has a tonsillectomy suffers a complication such as a postoperative hemorrhage, dehydration or treatment for ear, nose or throat pain.

Dennis Scanlon, professor of health policy and administration at Pennsylvania State University, and colleagues at Kaiser San Francisco Medical Center and Truven Health Analytics found the 20 percent of complications following an adult tonsillectomy was significantly higher than previous research showed.

Earlier studies involved small numbers of patients within institutions and only one complication -- post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage -- but this study involved data from 36,210 adult tonsillectomy patients from several medical facilities.

The study, published in Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery, found 20 percent of the adults had a complication, 11 percent were treated for pain, 10 percent sought treatment at a hospital emergency room, 6 percent were treated for postoperative hemorrhage, 2 percent were treated for dehydration and 1.5 percent were admitted to a hospital.

[Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery]