Tonsillectomy in Children

In recent years the removal of tonsils in children has become so common that the query naturally arises: What are the indications for this operation? Any medical or surgical procedure that affects such a large percentage of the children of a community must eventually be justified or condemned. To be justifiable, definite end-results must be ascertained. From these end-results, information can be gathered which will help to formulate the conditions existing in a child which will in the future determine the indications for the operation. If one could assume that the tonsil had no function and was a harmful organ, there would be no need for a study of this kind. Such an assumption, however, is not warranted at present; and, even if it were, tonsillectomy is not devoid of certain risks, so that its universal application is certainly not justifiable. Today the indications for tonsillectomy vary in communities and