Short-Stay Outpatient Tonsillectomy

Day stay pediatric tonsillectomy—a safe procedure

“…Capper et al [4] suggested a 12 h observation time. The recommended observation time has decreased over the past decade [5,22,32] and a 4-h period is now considered reasonable [19][20][21]29]. This current audit supports a 4-h period.…”

“…Kendrick and Gibbin [12] report a major hemorrhage incidence of 0.7% (n = 413). Although day stay tonsillectomy remains controversial in parts of Europe [11][12][13][14][15][16], experience has been gained in North America [7,8,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Literature reviews suggest primary hemorrhage rates of 1-3% and secondary hemorrhage rates of 0.15-6.4% [26,27] Most series are small and depend on the definition of hemorrhage [28,29].…”

“…Literature reviews suggest primary hemorrhage rates of 1-3% and secondary hemorrhage rates of 0.15-6.4% [26,27] Most series are small and depend on the definition of hemorrhage [28,29]. Reported primary postoperative bleeding rates for day stay tonsillectomy vary--0.6% (n = 593) [17], 1.4% (n = 233) [21], 1.6% (n = 134) [19], 3.1% (n = 320) [22], 3.5% (n = 452) [8]. Our postoperative hemorrhage rates are similar to those of Crysdale et al [5] who reported a post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage rate of 2.15% (CI 1.85-2.44) for children admitted overnight into a major North American teaching hospital (n = 9409).…”

Laser-tonsillotomy for treatment of obstructive tonsillar hyperplasia in early childhood: A retrospective review

“…Accordingly, cases could be transferred from a status of inpatient to the more economical day surgery. The low complication-rate of laser-tonsillotomy, especially the low risk for hemorrhage and the minimal postoperative pain at least justify an earlier discharge than standard tonsillectomy [19]. Meanwhile, this has been performed at our department.…”

Safety of day-stay tonsillectomy

“…Tonsillectomy as a day-case procedure is an accepted norm in many parts of the world with trials concluding that it is appropriate and safe, particularly in children, as well as offering benefit to health care providers [1,2,3]. Whilst the first postoperative night has been shown to be largely free of major complications [3,4], concerns still exist in some parts of the world about issues such as parental anxiety [5,6], postoperative vomiting [5,7] and the need of emergency services after discharge [8].…”