Possible ways to improve the diagnosis and routing of patients with chronic tonsillitis

Chronic tonsillitis is one of the most common diseases in otorhinolaryngology, characterized by the lack of uniform standards for diagnosis and patient routing. According to literature sources, the incidence of chronic tonsillitis varies from 5–37 % among adults and from 15 to 63 % among children, demonstrating a clear age trend. The subjectivity of existing classifications and the lack of a unified approach to diagnosis lead to errors in treatment strategies. Based on the systematization of existing scoring scales and an integral algorithm, the article considers the possibility of improving the effectiveness of methods for diagnosing chronic tonsillitis and routing patients at the stages of providing medical care. The attractiveness of the work is the developed integral point scale for the diagnosis of chronic tonsillitis, which includes 8 main criteria: the frequency of exacerbations, the level of C-reactive protein, antistreptolysin-o, and the rapid test H. According to the number of points scored, it is proposed to distinguish three degrees of severity of the disease: mild (0–6 points), moderate (6–12 points) and severe (13 or more points), which determine the patient’s management tactics. The presented two clinical examples of successful use of point scales and an integral algorithm clearly demonstrate the unique possibilities to standardize the diagnosis of chronic tonsillitis, increase the objectivity of diagnosis and the validity of the choice of treatment tactics. The implementation of this system can help optimize patient routing, reduce diagnosis time, and reduce the number of unjustified surgical inter ventions.