[A Case Treated with Selective Embolization for Hemorrhage during Tonsillectomy]

Though tonsillectomy is one of the most common surgical procedures in otorhinolaryngology generally for benign diseases and mainly for young people, uncontrollable perioperative bleeding associated with tonsillectomy is a rare but potentially life-threatening event. We report herein on a case of a 19-year-old female with uncontrollable hemorrhage during a tonsillectomy, which was controlled through selective embolization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on endovascular treatment in the management of tonsillectomy-associated intraoperative uncontrollable hemorrhage rather than postoperative bleeding. Selective embolization for perioperative bleeding during a tonsillectomy is considered as an efficient and important therapeutic option in the definitive treatment of this life-threatening occurrence. We also reviewed patients who underwent tonsillectomy in our hospital in the past five years. The ratio of postoperative hemorrhage was 11.8%. All patients with post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage were classified as grade 1 bleeding (spontaneous cessation).