Publication:

Comparison of post operative pain in tonsillectomy: a three year prospective study

Background Tonsillectomy is the oldest surgery performed by otorhinolaryngologists worldwide. Through ages different techniques have been tried to improve the post surgical outcome and reduce morbidity among patients. Aim of the current study was to compare the post-operative pain among the patients undergoing tonsillectomy by cold dissection, bipolar cautery dissection and coblation dissection.

Methods 142 Patients undergoing tonsillectomy in ENT department of TMMC during the period of 3 year were included in the study. Patients were randomly distributed to undergo different techniques of tonsillectomy. The post-operative pain in patients was assessed using the pre-standardized visual analogue pain scale and results were analyzed.

Results No statistically significant difference was found among the groups undergoing tonsillectomy by cold dissection, bipolar dissection and coblator dissection as the p>0.05. The immediate post-operative pain was found to be slightly higher among the group undergoing tonsillectomy by coblator dissection and the analgesics dose needed in the post-operative period remained the same for all for patients of all the three groups.

Conclusions No statistically significant difference was found in the post-operative pain scores of patients undergoing tonsillectomy by CD, BD and CBD techniques.