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Post‐operative pain following coblation or monopolar electrocautery tonsillectomy in children: a prospective, single‐blinded, randomised comparison
Author(s) -
Parker N.P.,
Walner D.L.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
clinical otolaryngology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.914
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1749-4486
pISSN - 1749-4478
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-4486.2011.02384.x
Subject(s) - medicine , tonsillectomy , surgery , otorhinolaryngology , prospective cohort study , ambulatory , postoperative pain , anesthesia , visual analogue scale
Clin. Otolaryngol. 2011, 36 , 468–474 Objective: To compare post‐operative pain following tonsillectomy by either coblation or monopolar electrocautery in children. Design: A parallel‐designed, prospective, single‐blinded, randomised trial. Setting: Ambulatory surgical facility. Study participants: Eighty otherwise healthy paediatric patients undergoing coblation or electrocautery tonsillectomy by a fellowship‐trained paediatric otolaryngologist. Main outcome measures: (i) The number of post‐operative days with severe pain based on subjective qualification by the caretaker, (ii) post‐operative days with pain rated ≥5 on a scale of 1–10, (iii) post‐operative days requiring oral paracetamol/acetaminophen with codeine solution and (iv) post‐operative days until resumption of a regular diet were assessed and recorded daily using a post‐operative pain survey as a form of daily diary that was returned at the 2‐week follow‐up visit. Results: Patients were consecutively enrolled into two groups of 40 patients. Average ages were 5.2 years for coblation tonsillectomy and 6.0 years for electrocautery tonsillectomy. The average number of post‐operative days with severe pain was 4.2 for coblation and 5.9 for electrocautery ( P = 0.006), days rating pain ≥5 were 3.6 for coblation and 4.8 for electrocautery ( P = 0.037), days of codeine use were 2.5 for coblation and 2.9 for electrocautery ( P = 0.324), and days until resumption of a regular diet were 5.2 for coblation and 6.2 for electrocautery (0.329). Conclusions: Coblation tonsillectomy may reduce post‐operative pain and the time until resumption of a regular diet compared to electrocautery tonsillectomy.