Closed Fossa Tonsillectomy

The literature contains an enormous amount of material dealing with hemorrhage occurring after tonsillectomy. All aspects of the problem have been investigated from the strictly postoperative point of view, with some improvement in the situation. Yet each year fatal and nearly fatal hemorrhages continue to occur. In the past, these hemorrhages have been attributed to changes in barometric pressure, presence of infection, the menstrual period, salicylates, blood dyscrasia, blood pressure, and many other causes, including even the season of the year. It is the purpose of this paper to show, on the basis of anatomical study and experience in 634 cases, that such hemorrhages are unnecessary if the techniques of modern surgery, long neglected by otolaryngologists, are applied to the problem. It is postulated that such hemorrhages are due to none of the causes mentioned but rather to a hole in a blood vessel, as is the case elsewhere in