Complications of adenotonsillectomy revisited in a large pediatric case series

Objective: To document the most important postoperative adenotonsillectomy morbidities, with an emphasis on prolonged hospitalization and readmissions. Design: Retrospective chart analysis. Methods: We reviewed 2067 cases of adenotonsillectomies performed at our institution over a period of 6 years. Results: Of these cases, 1927 patients had undergone tonsillectomy by electrocautery and adenoidectomy by suction-coagulator, of whom 9.3% required admission. The incidence of admissions owing to bleeding was 1.7%, whereas admissions owing to respiratory and gastrointestinal complications represented 3.7% and 5.2%, respectively. Compared with the literature and our institution's previous results, these morbidity values were found to be either comparable or significantly lower (p < .05). Conclusion: We attribute this improvement to our use of electrocautery-based techniques not only for tonsillectomy but also for adenoidectomy.