Posttonsillectomy hemorrhage: what is it and what should be recorded?

To report on our incidence of posttonsillectomy hemorrhage and to define what constituted posttonsillectomy bleeding.

Retrospective study.

Tertiary care children's hospital and a local satellite facility.

A series of 1438 consecutive patients who had undergone either tonsillectomy or adenotonsillectomy between January 1, 1999, and December 31, 1999.

During this period, parents were instructed to return with their children for clinical evaluation if any blood was seen in the postoperative period.

Postoperative day of evaluation, age, sex, location of bleeding, management strategy, length of hospital admission, and any bleeding disorders were noted for each patient.

A total of 112 patients underwent evaluation 134 times. Of these patients, 96 required only 1 evaluation and 16 required more than 1 evaluation. All patients who had more than 1 evaluation required intervention. The total number of children requiring intervention for posttonsillectomy hemorrhage was 51 (3.5%) of the 1438 patients. Female patients were more likely than male patients to return for evaluation. Patients who were 12 years and older were the most likely and those 3 years and younger were the least likely to have posttonsillectomy hemorrhage. The most common time from surgery to initial evaluation for hemorrhage was 6 days.

By reviewing our own criteria for defining and recording posttonsillectomy hemorrhage, we conclude that posttonsillectomy hemorrhage is defined differently in the literature. This supports the need for a standard definition to allow for direct comparisons.