A Study of Thirty-Four Cases of Abscess of the Lung

The recent literature on lung abscess reveals two very important facts: (1) the increasing recognition of the importance of tonsillectomy as a causative factor in the production of lung abscess, and (2) the apparently marked increase in the general incidence of the condition. The operation of tonsillectomy seems to be most likely to be followed by lung abscess when it is performed under general anesthesia. Lockwood,1for example, in a recent study of fifty-four cases of abscess of the lung seen at the Mayo Clinic, considered that sixteen were due to tonsillectomy, in all but one of which operation had been performed under general anesthesia. Pottenger2reports having seen twenty cases following tonsillectomy within a year and a half. Whittemore3states that in 1921 he saw thirty-two cases of lung abscess, of which seventeen followed tonsillectomy. Other literature on this subject is quoted by Lockwood. Pritchard4