Premium
POSTOPERATIVE PAIN FOLLOWING COBLATION TONSILLECTOMY: RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL
Author(s) -
Polites Nastasha,
Joniau Sander,
Wabnitz David,
Fassina Rob,
Smythe Clinton,
Varley Paul,
Carney A. Simon
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
anz journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.426
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 1445-1433
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.2006.03700.x
Subject(s) - medicine , tonsillectomy , randomized controlled trial , postoperative pain , anesthesia , surgery
Background: Tonsillectomy is one of the commonest surgical procedures, with postoperative pain being an important source of morbidity. Coblation (cold ablation) is a new technique for tonsillectomy, promoted by claims of reduced postoperative pain levels. This study was designed to compare postoperative pain after tonsillectomy using coblation and tonsillectomy using the standard dissection techniques. Methods: Twenty adult patients underwent tonsillectomy, each having one randomly selected tonsil removed by dissection and the other removed by coblation. For each side, subjective pain levels were recorded on a daily basis for 10 postoperative days, using a visual analogue scale. Results: Coblation tonsillectomy was significantly less painful than dissection tonsillectomy on day 1 ( P < 0.001), day 2 ( P = 0.003) and day 3 ( P = 0.018). For all subsequent postoperative days, there was no significant difference in pain levels between the techniques. Conclusion: Coblation tonsillectomy causes significantly less pain during the first three postoperative days, when compared with dissection tonsillectomy. No demonstrable benefit was shown on days 4–10. The beneficial effects of coblation on early postoperative pain make it a potentially attractive technique for day‐case tonsillectomy in adults with recurrent or chronic tonsillitis.