Postoperative vomiting and fever following tonsillectomy in Enugu, Nigeria

To determine the incidence of postoperative vomiting and fever in patients that had tonsillectomy in our centre over a five year period.

The hospital records (case files) of patients that had tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy under general anaesthesia at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku Ozalla, Enugu, Nigeria from January 2004 to December 2008 were retrieved and analyzed. Patients that had an adenoidectomy only were excluded. The patients were of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I to III status.

There were fifty two (52) patients that had tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy under general anaesthesia during the period under review. Forty one (41) patients were between the ages of 1-13 years (78%) and eleven (11) patients between the ages of 18-62 years (12%). There were 32 males and 20 females. The average age for all the patients was 9.03 years. There were seven (7) patients with post operative vomiting (13.4%). These included four (4) patients in the paediatric population (9.75%) and three (3) in the adult population (27.2%). Twenty one (21) patients (40.3%) developed postoperative fever. There were no deaths The other significant morbidity was postoperative pain.

The number of patients that had tonsillectomy in our center was small compared to other studies. The incidence of postoperative vomiting in this study is lower than that reported from Western World, showing possible racial variations, a trend that has been reported in some earlier studies in Black populations.