Is Adenotonsillar Size a Significant Factor on Voice in Children Undergoing Adenotonsillectomy?

To determine whether adenotonsillar size is a significant determinant of voice in children who have undergone adenotonsillectomy.

Prospective cohort study.

Ear Nose Throat Clinic, Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey, from July 2017 to June 2018.

A total of 57 patients, who have been diagnosed with chronic adenotonsillitis and operated for obstruction or infection, were included in the study. Patients were divided into two groups according to their palatine tonsil sizes. Each patient performed voice analysis preoperatively and one month postoperatively, recruiting both objective and subjective methods. F0, jitter % and shimmer % values were assessed with objective methods; while subjective methods evaluated pediatric voice handicap index (pVHI) scores. Pre- and post-operative F0, jitter % and shimmer % values and pVHI scores from each study group were compared.

In each study group, pre- and post-operative F0, jitter % and shimmer % values were found to be similar. In Group A, postoperative pVHI scores were found to be significantly reduced (p<0.001). In Group B, however, pre- and postoperatively assessed pVHI scores were similar.

Adenotonsillar hypertrophy in children, who underwent adenotonsillectomy, seems to be an important and positively effecting factor on the subjective, but not the objective, parameters of voice.