Tonsillitis

Tonsillitis usually presents in children as an episode of throat pain with fever. The pain is usually severe enough to prevent the child from swallowing his food. Fever may be high grade. Treatment would usually include antibiotics and analgesics. Severe cases of tonsillitis may not respond adequately to oral antibiotics and may require

Children or adults with repeated episodes of such pain and fever are said to be suffering from chronic recurrent tonsillitis. If a child has more than 5 episodes in a year, then surgery is indicated to remove the tonsils. This is called a tonsillectomy. In children, this procedure may be combined with removal of the adenoids, called an adenoidectomy, which is indicated in children who mouth breathe due to large adenoids blocking the airway behind the nose.

Nowadays, tonsillectomy is more often carried out for enlarged tonsils rather than recurrent infections. Large tonsils may decrease the airway space and cause obstruction to breathing, snoring and even obstructive sleep apnea.

Coblation assisted technique is excellent for removal of adenoids and tonsils as it causes minimal blood loss during surgery and much diminished pain afterwards.