Tonsillectomy. A comparative study of dissection/snare vs suction-cautery

In an optimal situation, a surgical procedure would be one that generates minimal post-operative pain, incurs little or no bleeding, and allows the patient to return to their normal daily activities in the shortest time period. A tonsillectomy is one of the most common operations performed in the world. Various surgical procedures for tonsillectomy are performed with a wide array of opinions to support the pros and cons of each technique.

To determine if there is a significant difference between two methods of tonsillectomy.

A prospective single blinded randomized control study using (i) A dissection/snare technique, and (ii) A suction-cautery method. Measured outcomes such as blood loss, surgical time, post-op pain, post-op hydration, pyrexia, and the length of time to resume normal daily activities will be assessed.

In total, 50 patients were studied, 23 in the dissection/snare technique, and 27 in the suction cautery technique. Inclusion criteria was, the patient must be at least 2 years of age and not older than 16 years of age. Data was collected intra-operatively, at 2 and 4 hour post-op intervals, as well as a 2 week follow-up questionnaire completed by the parents.

The suction cautery group had statistically significant differences in blood loss, surgical time and pain in the immediate post-operative period.