Immediate tonsillectomy is clinically effective and cost-effective in adults with recurrent acute tonsillitis, according to a study published online May 17 in The Lancet.
Janet A. Wilson, M.D., from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, and colleagues assessed the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of conservative management versus tonsillectomy in patients with recurrent acute tonsillitis. The analysis included 453 patients (aged 16 years and older) newly referred to secondary care otolaryngology clinics with recurrent acute tonsillitis (May 11, 2015, to April 30, 2018).
The researchers found that participants in the immediate tonsillectomy group had fewer days of sore throat during 24 months than those in the conservative management group (median, 23 versus 30 days). The incident rate ratio of total sore throat days in the immediate tonsillectomy group versus the conservative management group was 0.53 when adjusting for site and baseline severity. Within 90 days, 39 percent of participants experienced an adverse event related to tonsillectomy, including most commonly bleeding (19 percent).
“Our research should level the threshold for referral for this problem, and clinicians can now be assured that tonsillectomy is effective for those who suffer with recurrent tonsillitis,” a study author said in a statement.
