Day case adenotonsillectomy : is it safe ?

Abstract EN

To determine the risk of complications of adenotonsillectomy if they are discharged after a short period of postoperative observation, this study was conducted.

The records of all patients, 14 years of age or less who underwent tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy from July 1996 through August 2000, were reviewed.

A total of 250 patients were identified, 17 patients were excluded from the study because of various medical conditions which was found to have required planned overnight hospitalization.

The occurrence and severity of postoperative complications, which happened during the postoperative period, were recorded from their medical files.Complications, which were recorded, included bleeding and vomiting.

The total complication rate was 9.4 %, primary bleeding occurred in 2.1 %, all these cases happened during the first 3 hours of the postoperative period.

Secondary hemorrhage occurred in 3 %.

Vomiting occurred in 4.2 % of the patients.

we concluded that, short periods of observation could be safe, with low rate of early complications if they are discharged after a period of 4-6 hours, in appropriately selected patients.