Abstract

Objective: To compare the incidence of post operative hemorrhage after tonsillectomy with
dissection and with bipolar diathermy.
Patients and Methods: This comparative study was carried out in Department of ENT and Head
and Neck Surgery, Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad from June 2004 to July 2008. It included
300 patients with chronic tonsillitis in the absence of bleeding diathesis or nasal pathology. They
were divided into 2 groups of 150 patients each and were labeled as dissection group and
coagulation group. They were followed in OPD on 7th and 14th post operative days and any bleeding
per mouth at home was inquired. The data was analyzed using SPSS V 13.
Results: A total 8 patients (2.6%) developed hemorrhage, all were secondary, and 3 (2%) were from
dissection group and 5 (3%) from coagulation group (p=NS).
Conclusions: Bipolar diathermy can be safely adopted for tonsillectomy because of no significant
difference from post tonsillectomy hemorrhage with dissection technique. (Rawal Med J 2009;34:
23-25).

Key words: Tonsil, tonsillectomy, dissection.