The role of amoxicillin in preventing post-tonsillectomy complications

Background and objective: Tonsillectomy is defined as the surgical excision of the palatine tonsils. This single blind prospective study of (200) patients underwent tonsillectomy in AlRizgary Teaching Hospital-ErbilIraq from February 2006 through June 2006.The main aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of post-tonsillectomy amoxicillin in preventing infection and secondary haemorrhage. Methods: Our patient’s ages ranged from 2.5 years-55 years and were randomly divided postoperatively into two equal groups. The first group received amoxicillin antibiotic with analgesic paracetamol up to one week postoperatively. The second group received only paracetamol for one week. All tonsillectomy surgeries were done by cold knife dissection method. Results: In the first group no one developed complications neither postoperative infection nor secondary hemorrhage , whereas in the second group who received only paracetamol, 4 patients (4%) had features of infections post operatively with another 2 patients (2%) developed secondary hemorrhage controlled conservatively. Conclusion: The above results showed no significant effect of post-tonsillectomy antibiotic to prevent infection or delayed bleeding.