Tonsillectomy Reduces FUTURE Risk of Throat Cancer

Remote history of tonsil removal decreases future risk of oropharyngeal cancer development by about 60% according to Danish researchers based on data analysis using the Danish Cancer Registry. If tonsillectomy was performed within 1 year of diagnosis with tonsil carcinoma , having this surgery done was associated with significantly improved overall survival. As such, it is not surprising that from 1977 to 2012 as the incidence of tonsillectomies significantly decreased, the incidence of oroph…

10/14/2021 0

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Tonsillectomy in Singers (Voice Changes After Tonsillectomy)

Even singers may suffer from recurrent tonsillitis and strep that may warrant tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy . But unlike non-singers, there is a significant concern that this common operation may adversely affect the singing voice whether in terms of sound, resonance, reliability, and/or stamina. Over the years, there have been a few studies to investigate what changes to the voice may or may not occur in the singing population, in particular, whether any adverse changes may …

7/15/2019 0

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Potential Increased Long-Term Risk of Diseases with Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy

The New York Times published a story on June 7, 2018 publicizing a Danish 2018 study that suggested that children under 9 years old undergoing tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy  are at increased long-term risk of respiratory, infectious, and allergic diseases. (Adults undergoing this surgery were not investigated.) All prior studies  evaluating for any adverse affects from surgical intervention looked more at any unusual immunological changes after surgery; these studies did not show a…

6/09/2018 0

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Dr. Chang Referenced in ER Journal Article

First Page Preview It's nice to get noticed, even at the prestigious Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Two emergency room physicians at this hospital published an article on how to manage bleeding after tonsillectomy and used photos that Dr. Chang took and published in his blog, " Bleeding After Tonsillectomy ". Although you need to get behind a paid firewall, you can certainly still read the abstract here and take a look at all the pictures used in the arti…

6/01/2018 0

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Tonsillectomy Has Higher Risk of Complications if Younger Than 3 Years

Tonsillectomy is commonly performed in children for really 2 main conditions... chronic tonsillitis (whether from strep of other) or obstructive sleep apnea . This surgery is overall considered safe and effective. However, experienced clinicians have also known that complications occur more frequently in children under 3 years of age. As such, for a very young child, this surgery is often recommended to be delayed if at all possible until a child is over 3 years old. But is this concern …

3/15/2018 0

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Tonsillectomy Associated with Increased Pregnancy / Fertility Rates

Image courtesy of nenetus at  FreeDigitalPhotos.net A reader pointed this interesting research article from the United Kingdom that suggests females who have undergone tonsillectomy and/or appendectomy had increased fertility rates compared to women who have had neither surgeries. Fertility in this study was measured by time to pregnancy after surgery. The results reported are as follows: • During a mean follow-up of about 15 years after surgery, 53.4% of women who underwent tonsillec…

11/26/2017 0

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Swab Culture is Inaccurate Test for Determining Tonsillitis

A fascinating study came out in June 2017 that compared the bacteria found on the tonsil surface by swab versus bacteria found within a core needle biopsy versus bacteria found within the dissected tonsil's core. The take home finding is that a swab culture poorly identifies the bacteria causing recurrent tonsillitis . Based on 54 children who underwent tonsillectomy , researchers performed a swab, needle biopsy, and core dissection of all tonsils removed. Culture results obtained from…

6/28/2017 0

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Psoriasis Improves After Tonsillectomy

Image by Bobjgalindo in Wikipedia It is felt that certain skin psoriasis conditions may improve if not completely resolve after tonsillectomy . The psoriasis could be anywhere on the body and is hypothesized to be triggered by an abnormal immunological response to streptococcus, an organism commonly found in tonsillitis as well as strep throat. The exact mechanism is unclear but several studies performed over the years found potential benefit, especially for guttate psoriasis and even t…

12/04/2016 0

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Tonsillectomy Alone Can Cure OSA in Select Adult Patients

Among adults who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) , treatments are relatively small in number and overall relatively unappetizing for many patients to pursue. Beyond losing weight, noninvasive treatment for OSA includes CPAP which is considered the gold standard treatment for adult OSA and involves placing a mask of sorts over the face which than delivers continuous positive pressure into the lungs preventing airway collapse and obstruction. Nightly use of an oral device (mandibu…

9/23/2016 0

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Narcotic Overdose Death After Tonsillectomy

This is a stock image. Here is a case  reported by media on 5/14/16 for which there is probably no right answer... The facts are not in dispute in which a 24 years old man underwent tonsillectomy 2/3/12 and died 9 days later from an overdose of narcotics, anti-anxiety meds, and cocaine. The main issue from an ENT perspective is whether the 145 narcotic pills that were prescribed for this patient was appropriate or not. You can read the media report here . Timeline: Feb 2, 2012:  Patient …

5/29/2016 0

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One Tonsil Larger than the Other a Sign of Cancer?

Not uncommonly, a patient will present to an ENT clinic with only ONE tonsil being unusually large compared with the other side. Typically, such patients have no pain, no sore throat,  no preceding illness, no trouble swallowing , etc. Really, no symptoms other than one tonsil being very large. The main concern from an ENT perspective is that this may suggest the possibility of cancer. What is the risk of cancer in such a situation where an asymmetric tonsil hypertrophy is present? Depend…

4/13/2016 0

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Does Tonsil Removal Negatively Effect a Person's Body/Immune System?

Tonsils are basically lymph nodes that are on the surface (of the mouth) where they can be seen. Most lymph nodes are located under the skin where they can be felt, but not directly visualized. As such, tonsils are part of the body's immune system which helps to guard against infections. Indeed, tonsils are known to produce antibodies. So this begs the question of what adverse effects may result from tonsil removal ? If there are any negative effects, how severely is it impacted? What p…

6/16/2015 0

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Tonsillectomy Lawsuit Due to Taste Loss

An ENT was sued for $1.5 million dollars for normal taste loss that occurred after tonsillectomy that was performed in 2009. The jury did not find the ENT negligent, but awarded the money due to failure to obtain "informed consent." Given the patient is a restaurant owner and cook, the loss of normal taste has impacted his life tremendously. [ link ] Taste loss/alteration after tonsillectomy is an extremely rare complication... like very rare to the point where it is worth writin…

5/11/2015 0

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Removal of "Small" Tonsils Can Still Significantly Improve/Cure OSA

At least in kids... A Johns Hopkins study published in May 2015 suggests that tonsil size does NOT appear to correlate with  obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)  severity and degree of response to T&A surgery . Regardless of the tonsil size even if they are small, improvement in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) occurs based on pre- and post-operative sleep studies. These findings seem counter-intuitive since one would think that the larger the tonsils, the more severe the OSA and the grea…

5/07/2015 0

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Acupuncture Helps with Tonsillectomy Pain

Back in 2013, I blogged how acupuncture may help with pain after tonsillectomy in children [ link ]. This was based on a study by Dr. Ochi published in Dec 2013 on 56 children. Another study has been published in April 2015 on 59 children by a different group of researchers which support Dr. Ochi's findings as well as another in 2019 found acupuncture helpful in adults. Although no significant differences in the amount of opioid medications administered or total post-anesthesia care t…

4/13/2015 0

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Weight Loss After Tonsillectomy in Adults

An adult undergoing tonsillectomy experiences some of the worst pain they could potentially encounter in their lifetime. Not only that, it may last up to 3 weeks. With such pain, it is not surprising that dehydration is one of the most common risks of this surgery. Along with such pain, weight loss is a not unexpected occurrence given oral intake substantially decreases for such a long time. Typically, I've told patients around a 10 pound weight loss is not unusual, but that's just…

4/10/2015 0

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Bleeding After Tonsillectomy (Pictures)

Bleeding after Tonsillectomy (circa 2010) 5 years old patient Bleeding after tonsillectomy is a very rare, but potentially life-threatening event. The often quoted probability of bleeding after this surgery is 1 in 1000 . Many surgeons have statistics much better than this. I like to consider myself in this "better" group. But... no matter how good you are, if enough tonsillectomies are performed, statistically, a significant bleed after tonsillectomy will occur at some point no…

3/06/2015 4

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Richard Scarry Tonsillectomy Cartoon [video]

My kids introduced me to this particular cartoon being big fans of Richard Scarry. Dr. Lion is the ENT surgeon and Huckle the Cat is the patient undergoing tonsillectomy .

1/01/2015 0

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New Video on Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy (Re-mastered and in HD)

Back in 2007, I uploaded a video on tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy which may have been cutting age at the time, but much has changed in the YouTube world including the usage of high definition and wide-screen format. I also purchased a new microphone since than so narration does not quite sound like I'm yelling all the time. You can watch the "old" version tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy . And here are the two new videos refreshed for 2012 that have been remastered and in HD…

9/22/2014 0

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Steroids Helpful After Tonsillectomy?

Pain is perhaps the most common dreaded fear patients have when considering tonsillectomy surgery.  After pain, bleeding is perhaps the 2nd greatest concern patients have. With both these issues, steroids play a key role by helping with one at the expense of the other. In the 2011 Clinical Practice Guideline: Tonsillectomy in Children , the authors strongly recommend giving a single large dose of steroids to help with not just pain, but also nausea and vomiting after surgery. It is not jus…

9/20/2014 0

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