[Tonsillectomy as a major outpatient procedure. Prospective 8-year study: indications and complications. Comparison...

Tonsillectomy is a classic procedure in othorinolaryngology and the most frequent performed in some industrialized countries. In the US more than 390,000 procedures were performed per year. The indications for tonsillectomy and the advisability of outpatients surgery are often debated in the current literature. A prospective 8 years study was made to collect the complications ina total of 348 inpatients and 148 outpatients tonsillectomy. The mean age of inpatients was 6.68 years and 6.14 years in the outpatients group; the 57.18% and 56.52% respectively were men. The mean duration of the surgery in all patients was 23 minutes and the mean time for discharge in the outpatients 173 minutes. The complications occurred in the 1.89% of the inpatients (3 reinterventions, 1 delayed bleeding and 3 delayed discharge) and in the 2.17% of the outpatients (2 reinterventions and 1 anaesthetic complication). Pain was present in the 30% of the patients, vomiting in the 1.57% and fever under 38 degrees C in the 5.52%. We conclude that tonsillectomy has a low rate of complications, the patients can be discharged 4 hours after the surgery, the age under 4 years and SAS were unrelated with the risk of complications, and the poor fluid intake is not a criterion for admission.