Vol.100 No.9 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 100 No. 9 September 2007
Evaluation of Tonsillectomy with Four Different Methods
Takahiro Azuma
(Shikoku Central Hospital)
Naoki Toda
(National Hospital Organization Kochi National Hospital)
Koichi Tamura and Noriaki Takeda
(University of Tokushima School of Medicine)
In the present study, the efficacy of monopolar electrocautery, harmonic scalpel, coblater, and cold knife was evaluated in tonsillectomy. Fifty two adult patients with chronic tonsillitis were divided into four groups, and the operation time and postoperative pain were examined. The mean operation time of tonsillectomy was 35.0±13.2 min with monopolar electrocautery, 40.0±10.0 min with harmonic scalpel, 54.0±19.1 min with coblater, and 101.0±24.1 min with cold knife. Thus, the operation time of tonsillectomy with cold knife was significantly prolonged, in comparison with those employing the other three devices (p＜0.05). On the contrary, postoperative pain evaluated by self-reporting scales was decreased in the order of cold knife, coblater, harmonic scalpel, and monopolar electrocautery. The pain level after tonsillectomy with monopolar electrocautery was significantly greater than that with cold knife on postoperative days 2-7 (p＜0.01). In conclusion, the efficacies of harmonic scalpel and coblater in tonsillectomy lay midway between those with monopolar electrocautery and cold knife.
Key words : tonsillectomy, harmonic scalpel, coblater, pain, operation time