Comparison of Tonsillectomy by Conventional Dissection, Electrocautery, Laser, and Coblation

Received September 25, 2013 Revised October 7, 2013 Accepted October 7, 2013 Address for correspondence Dong Jin Choi, MD Department of OtolayngologyHead and Neck Surgery, Kwangju Hospital of Christian, 37 Yangnim-ro, Nam-gu, Gwangju 503-715, Korea Tel +82-62-650-5095 Fax +82-62-650-5090 E-mail kircheys@naver.com Background and ObjectivesZZTonsillectomy remains to be an ordinary operative process in otorhinolaryngology. The aim of this study is to evaluate four current tonsillectomy techniques, conventional dissection, electrocautery tonsillectomy, laser tonsillectomy, coblation tonsillectomy, comparing operation time, postoperative pain, postoperative otalgia and postoperative hemorrhage. Subjects and MethodZZFrom March 2012 to December 2012, a total of 61 patients between the ages of 10 years and 58 years scheduled for tonsillectomy were randomly assigned to conventional dissection, electrocautery, laser, coblation groups. All tonsillectomies were performed under general anesthesia. ResultsZZCoblation tonsillectomy technique produced the shortest total surgical time, averaging 19.1 minutes. Electrocautery was the most painful method and postoperative pain was less in laser and coblation, but there was no statistically significant difference between the two. The incidence of primary and secondary hemorrhage was statistically insignificant between the surgical methods. ConclusionZZThis study found that coblation tonsillectomy led to statistically shorter surgical time. However, the four techniques showed no statistically significant difference in the postoperative pain, postoperative otalgia and hemorrhage. Coblation tonsillectomy and laser tonsillectomy are found to be both useful in patients who are sensitive to postoperative pain. Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg 2013;56:773-7