The effect of tonsilla fossa cooling with gauze soaked in ice-cold after tonsillectomy in monopolar electrodissection

Abstract

Purpose: Tonsillectomy was one of the most popular surgical procedures in otorhinolaryngology. Postoperative pain was troublesome and optimal management seems to be still insufficient. Only a few studies appropriately investigated the effect of non-pharmacological treatments and this is the purpose of our study. Aim: the effect of tonsilla fossa cooling with gauze soaked in ice-cold after tonsillectomy. Materials and Methods: Sixty two patients were scheduled for bilateral tonsillectomy in monopolar electrodissection from 2021 June to 2022 June. Results: the reason for hospitalization was sore throat for group I and group II (83.9% and 45.2%, respectively). For group I, sore throat was the most common symptom (87.1%) while dysphagia was the most common symptom for group II (67.7%). The mean operative time for group I was 39.03 ± 15.46 and 50.65 ± 14.36 for group II (p < 0.05). Pain scores have significantly been lower for group I as compared to group II at all time (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Tonsilla fossa cooling with gauze soaked in ice-cold after tonsillectomy was a useful method in reducing postoperative pain without any main adverse effects Key words: tonsillectomy, monopolar electrodissection, tonsilla fossa cooling, postoperative pain.