No abstract

This retrospective study was undertaken to evaluate the incidence of hemorrhage in nonselected patients requiring surgical treatment after adenoidectomy (group 1; 7,785 patients) or tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy (group 2; 6,794 patients). Postoperative bleeding from the tonsillar fossae occurred in 200 patients (2.94%). Primary hemorrhage (< 24 hours) clearly prevailed in groups 1 (86%) and 2 (78%). There was 1 case with a lethal outcome following tonsillectomy (0.007%). Bleeding from the epipharynx occurred in 17 patients of group 1 (0.21%). A total of 5 patients received blood transfusions, all of them belonging to group 2 (0.07%). The latest bleeding occurred 6 days (adenoidectomy) and 18 days (tonsillectomy) after surgery. Hemorrhage following both procedures is a rare complication predominantly occurring several hours after surgery and in nonselected patients. Male gender, age over 70 years, infectious mononucleosis, and a history of recurrent tonsillitis were found to be risk factors for posttonsillectomy hemorrhage.

Bleeding remains the most significant complication following tonsillectomy (TE), sometimes requiring revision surgery under general anesthesia. This study was undertaken to verify whether or not bleeding rates changed after bipolar coagulation was replaced by suture ligation to achieve hemostasis at a single institution. The charts of all patients who had undergone tonsillectomy between April 1, 2007, and April 30, 2013, at our institution were reviewed. The tonsils were bluntly dissected with scissors and a rasp. While hemostasis was achieved with bipolar coagulation during the first 36 months (group A), this method was replaced after a transition period of 1 month by intraoperative suture ligation (group B) during the last 36 months. Group A encompassed 2,137 patients including 963 children scheduled for adenotonsillectomy (ATE), and group B consisted of 1,521 patients and included 435 ATE cases. Bleeding from the tonsillar wounds occurred in 111/2,137 group A (5.2 %) and 68/1,521 group B patients (4.5 %). The difference was not found to be significant (p = 0.317). The incidence of primary bleeding (PB) and secondary bleeding (SB) was significantly (p = 0,000) associated with the method to achieve hemostasis: PB prevailed in group B and SB prevailed in group A. The overall incidence of post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage (PTH) varied at different ages, but the difference was not significant in group A (p = 0.401) and group B (p = 0.661). Repeated episodes of PTH occurred in 11/111 group A (9.9 %) and 8/68 group B (11.7 %) patients. The statistical difference was not found to be significant (p = 0.725). However, there were significantly more male patients with bleeding complications in both groups. Despite the strongest efforts to avoid it, the potential risk of PTH remains a fact to be accepted by surgeons and patients. An increased surgical precision achieved by introduction of a surgical microscope as well as replacing bipolar cautery by suture ligation to achieve hemostasis could only reduce the overall rate of PTH. Another fact remains unchanged: PB occurs predominantly when electrosurgical means are avoided and SB prevails, whenever surgeons use them. We will continue our research on refined methods of cold steel microsurgical TE including suture techniques.

We conducted a retrospec tive study of 4,848 patients to evaluate the age-specific incidence ofpost-tonsillectomy hemorrhage that required surgica l treatment. We reviewed the charts of2,567 patients younger than 15 years (pediatric gro up) and 2,281 patients aged 15 years and older (adult gro up) who had undergone tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy. We fo und that posttonsillec tomy hemorrhage occurred significantly more often in the adult group (3.9 vs 1.6%; p

The surgical procedure was well tolerated by all patients without notable perioperative complications. In terms of speech perception, no significant differences between the elderly patients and younger recipients were noted. All patients found that cochlear implantation had a positive impact on their quality of life.