The effectiveness of unilateral tonsillectomy in chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy

This study sought to determine whether unilateral tonsillectomy was effective in the treatment of chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy.

A total of 197 patients (96 girls, 101 boys) with chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy were prospectively included. The patients were randomly assigned to either bilateral tonsillectomy (n=113; mean age 10.1 years; range 4 to 18 years) or unilateral tonsillectomy (n=84; mean age 4.5 years; range 3 to 8 years) performed with or without adenoidectomy. All the patients were followed-up for at least a year.

The two groups did not differ significantly with respect to preoperative symptoms, the size of tonsils, and the presence of adenoid hypertrophy. At the end of the follow-up, no significant differences were found with respect to relief of snoring, mouth breathing, and upper airways obstruction between the two groups. A greater number of patients achieved complete improvement in snoring in the bilateral tonsillectomy group (p<0.05). With unilateral tonsillectomies, three patients required tonsillectomy to the other side, two had recurrent tonsillitis, and one had severe compensatory hypertrophy with persistent difficulty in inspiration and mouth breathing.

Unilateral tonsillectomy seems to be as effective as bilateral tonsillectomy in the treatment of chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy.