Peritonsillar abscess assessment tool

Area of Science:

• Otolaryngology
• Patient-Reported Outcomes
• Medical Device Development

Background:

• Peritonsillar abscess (PTA) management requires effective tools to assess symptom severity and treatment outcomes.
• Existing methods may not fully capture the patient's perspective on symptom burden and treatment efficacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a patient-reported outcome measurement for assessing symptom severity in peritonsillar abscess (PTA) patients.
• To create a tool that can quantify and compare the efficacy of different treatment modalities for PTA.

Main Methods:

• A 19-item questionnaire using a five-point Likert scale was designed.
• The survey was administered to 51 patients aged 15-40 with PTA and 76 healthy controls.
• Statistical analysis, including inter-item correlations and reliability testing, was performed to refine the tool.

Main Results:

• The final Peritonsillar Abscess Assessment Tool (PAAT)-12 consists of 12 items with strong psychometric properties.
• PTA patients reported significantly higher PAAT-12 scores (49.0) compared to controls (14.2) (p < 0.001).
• The PAAT-12 demonstrated high reliability, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.86 and test-retest reliability of 0.79.

Conclusions:

• The PAAT-12 is a reliable and valid instrument for evaluating PTA symptom severity from the patient's viewpoint.
• This validated tool enables the quantification and comparison of treatment modalities in PTA management.
• The PAAT-12 represents a significant advancement in patient-centered assessment for peritonsillar abscess.