Background: Post-tonsillectomy bleeding is life threatening. A previous study found that 30% of patients who suffered from post-operative bleeding did not seek medical assistance although instructed to do so. We therefore compiled a new list of instructions and a colorful illustrated booklet written in 4 languages.

Care must be taken with the type of IV fluid used to replace this degree of blood loss, as hyponatraemia is possible if glucose-saline fluids are used. Blood transfusion is needed in less than 0.1% of children. This low use of blood is not surprising because if normovolaemia is maintained with asanguineous fluid, nearly half of a child's blood volume can be lost before the haemoglobin reaches 7...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the risk of postoperative bleeding and reintervention with the use of systemic steroids in patients undergoing tonsillectomy. DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. DATA SOURCES Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science, Intute, Biosis, OpenSIGLE, National Technical Information Service, and Google Scholar were search...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To evaluate the risk of post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage associated with perioperative ketorolac use. STUDY DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis of primary articles reporting individual-level post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage rates in subjects receiving perioperative ketorolac and matched controls. Retrospective and prospective studies were both included. METHODS PubMed...

Alternating doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen provided an effective treatment for post-tonsillectomy pain in the majority of children and did not increase rate of bleeding.The new finding appear in Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology. Pain control after tonsillectomy in children is critical for a good quality of postoperative recovery. Opioids, acetaminophen and non steroidal anti-inf...

OBJECTIVES Traditionally secondary post-tonsillectomy haemorrhage has been thought to be due to post-operative infection and as such is treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics. The aim of this study was to identify clinical evidence of infection in patients with secondary post-tonsillectomy haemorrhage that might justify the use of antibiotics in these patients. DESIGN Prospective data collec...

OBJECTIVE To conduct an adequately powered, prospective, randomised, controlled trial comparing adult dissection tonsillectomy using either ultrasonic scalpel, bipolar electrocautery, bipolar radiofrequency or 'cold steel' dissection. METHODS Three hundred patients were randomised into four tonsillectomy technique groups. The operative time, intra-operative bleeding, post-operative pain, tons...

OBJECTIVE To compare the frequency of haemorrhage after tonsillectomy as a day care procedure versus tonsillectomy as a one day procedure. METHODS A comparative study was conducted at the Department of ENT and Head and Neck Surgery, Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad from January 2003 to December 2007. The sample consisted of 400 patients, divided into two groups, One group was kept in t...