A mean red blood cell volume loss in tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy and adenotonsillectomy

To calculate a mean red blood cell volume (RBCV) loss per kilogram (kg) in adenoidectomy, tonsillectomy, and adeno-tonsillectomy.

Pre- and post-operative complete blood cell count, and pre-operative clotting studies of 144 patients were measured. Total blood volume (75 or 70 ml/kg), pre- and post-operative RBCV (hematocritxtotal blood volume), RBCV loss, per kg RBCV loss and per cent RBCV loss were calculated.

There was significant differences between pre- and post-operative RBCV, Hb, and Htc values for tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy and A&T groups, respectively (p<0.001 for all groups). We found a mean RBCV loss of 33 ml (5.56% of total RBCV) for adenoidectomy, 128 ml (10.63% of RBCV) for tonsillectomy and 60 ml (10.71% of RBCV) for A&T. RBCV loss per kg was 1.57+/-1.29 for adenoidectomy, 2.96+/-1.91 for adeno-tonsillectomy, and 3.02+/-1.66 for tonsillectomy.

According to us, for management of the patients, knowledge of a mean nature loss of RBCV per kg is important because bleeding seems to be unavoidable in the intra-operative or maybe post-operative period in these operations.