All issues > Volume 26(8); 1983

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1983;26(8):786-793. Published online August 31, 1983.

Clinical Observation on Tonsillectomy and Adenotosillectomy.

Joong Soo Park¹, Hyung Ro Moon¹

¹Dept, of Pediatrics, College of Medicine，Seoul National University

Abstract

Clinical observations were made on the 1,040 cases of tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy and the medical records of 628 patients among 1,040 cases admitted to the Department of Otolaryngology, National Medical Center, Seoul from January 1971 to December 1980 for tonsillectomy and actenoidectomy. The following results were obtained. 1) The total number of tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy increased to 2. 6 times during the ten year period. The proportion of the tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy to total ENT operations increased by 5.7 times during the ten year period. 2) Three-hundred and twenty nine patients (62.4%) were under fifteen years of age. Childern six to ten years of age consisted 36.3% of total tonsillectomized and adenotonsillectomized patients. The peak number of the tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy coincided with ten years of age. 3) The procedures were performed mostly during the Jaunary, August and Feburuary of the year in the decreasing order of frequency. 4) The procedures were recommended by otolaryhgologists in 78. 0% of cases and pediatrici- ans recommended it in 17.5% of cases. 5) The major causes of operation were recurrent chronic tonsillitis (63.4%), obstructive symptoms (19.7%) and frequent upper respiratory infections (7.2%). 6) Medical conditions assumed to benefited include chronic maxillary sinusitis (4.6%), chronic purulent otitis media (2.7%) and rhinitis (2.2%) for ENT problems; post streptococcal glomerulonephritis (2.0%) and rheumatic fever (1. 0%) for pediatric problems. 7) Postoperative complications of adenotonsillectomy encountered in 1. 6% of cases. Post- al erative bleeding was the most common (0.8%) and other complications include lung abscess, pneumonia, local infection and post-operative persistent pain.

Keywords :Tonsillectomy; Adenoidectomy